‘Our Idiot Brother’ Director Jesse Peretz Will Adapt Nick Hornby’s ‘Juliet, Naked’
By now, author and Academy Award-nominated screenwriterNick Hornby(Brooklyn) has had a few of his novels adapted for the big screen. Since 1997’sFever Pitch(which starred Colin Firth), we’ve seen adaptations ofHigh Fidelity,About a Boy,A Long Way Down, and a second attempt at adaptingFever Pitch. Another one of Hornby’s stories,Juliet, Nakedmay soon join that list.Our Idiot BrotherdirectorJesse Peretzis currently attached to direct the adaptation.
Learn more about the Juliet Naked adaptation below.
Peretz’s last feature film wasOur Idiot Brother, a delightful and refreshingly kindhearted comedy with a charming performance from Paul Rudd. At the time of its release, it was also a significant improvement for Peretz, who had last directedThe Ex, a comedy that, despite starring Charles Grodin and Jason Bateman, somehow misses the mark. But Peretz has done plenty of memorable work since that 2006 picture, having directed episodes ofNew Girl,The Mindy Project,Orange is the New Black, and a total of 15 episodes of HBO’sGirls.
According toDeadline,Judd Apatowis producingJuliet, Naked. ScreenwritersTamara Jenkins(The Savages) andJim Taylor(Sideways,About Schmidt) adapted the novel, butPhil Alden Robinson(Field of Dreams) andEvgenia Peretz(Our Idiot Brother) handled the rewrites.
Here’s the synopsis forJuliet, Naked:
Annie loves Duncan — or thinks she does. Duncan loves Annie, but then, all of a sudden, he doesn’t. Duncan really loves Tucker Crowe, a reclusive Dylanish singer-songwriter who stopped making music ten years ago. Annie stops loving Duncan, and starts getting her own life.
In doing so, she initiates an e-mail correspondence with Tucker, and a connection is forged between two lonely people who are looking for more out of what they’ve got. Tucker’s been languishing (and he’s unnervingly aware of it), living in rural Pennsylvania with what he sees as his one hope for redemption amid a life of emotional and artistic ruin — his young son, Jackson. But then there’s also the new material he’s about to release to the world: an acoustic, stripped-down version of his greatest album, Juliet — entitled, Juliet, Naked.
What happens when a washed-up musician looks for another chance? And miles away, a restless, childless woman looks for a change? Juliet, Naked is a powerfully engrossing, humblingly humorous novel about music, love, loneliness, and the struggle to live up to one’s promise.
The last Hornbyadaptation,A Long Way Down, is a bit of disappointment, but his stories tend to make for quality films, and the amount of talent working onJuliet, Nakedmakes this project incredibly promising. Robinson wroteField of Dreamsand, easily one of the most enjoyable movies from the 1990s,Sneakers. As for Taylor and Jenkins, they’ve written some excellent adaptations that aren’t too tonally dissimilar from Hornby’s writing. We’ll see if they all get credited for the script, but for now, it’s nice to see Peretz has another film in the works.
