Like everyone else, I read Viginia Evans’ The Correspondent in recent months. It came out last year and it became a sleeper bestseller, then a full-on phenomenon. I’m sure a lot of people got the book for Christmas, or they read it in their book clubs. It’s a really well-done story told through letters to and from an elderly woman named Sybil Van Antwerp. Sybil is a retired law clerk who has spent her whole life writing letters by hand. The book is very moving and infuriating and really funny in places. The story follows the final decade of her life, and it’s just a sweet story. It didn’t even occur to me that Hollywood would come knocking – it seems like such a difficult story to adapt for the screen. But they’re doing it. Not only that, but there was a bidding war for the rights. Now Jane Fonda is attached to play Sybil Van Antwerp.

Lionsgate has won a seven-studio bidding war for The Correspondent, a feature package based on the #1 New York Times bestseller by Virginia Evans that has Jane Fonda attached to star and produce alongside Todd Lieberman via his Hidden Pictures.

Published by Crown last April, Evans’ breakout debut The Correspondent — which has spent 19 weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers list and sold more than a million copies — centers on the unforgettable Sybil Van Antwerp, a sharp-witted, fiercely opinionated, retired lawyer who has long used letters to impose order on a complicated world — writing to friends, family, literary icons, and one elusive recipient whose message she has never sent. But when an unexpected letter from her past resurfaces, Sybil is forced to confront a long-buried chapter of grief, regret, and unresolved guilt.

Cat Vasko is on board to script the feature take and will exec produce alongside author Evans. Chelsea Kujawa and Pavan Kalidindi will oversee the project for Lionsgate, with Carly Kleinbart Elter and Aydan Cohen overseeing for Hidden Pictures. Dan Freedman negotiated the deal on behalf of the studio.

Erin Westerman, president, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, said, “We could not be more honored that Virginia, Jane, and Cat have chosen us to be their studio partner on this project. This book spoke to so many people on our team who found Sybil’s story and character deeply moving, and we believe Jane, Virginia, and Cat responded to the genuine enthusiasm and personal touch that we bring. And there’s no one better to shepherd the project than our friend Todd Lieberman at Hidden Pictures, who alongside his colleague Carly Elter produced another successful book-to-screen adaptation in The Housemaid. This is a perfect team—we’re thrilled to have won the trust of all—and we can’t wait to get started.”

Lieberman added, “This book is a phenomenon. To be invited in alongside the legend Jane Fonda, with my Lionsgate partners and Cat, is a thrilling honor—and we all can’t wait to have moviegoers experience the same catharsis that so many book readers already have.”

[From Deadline]

Jane Fonda is not who I pictured for Sybil at all. Sybil is supposed to have dark hair and eyes and she’s supposed to be very small and fine-boned. Think… Rita Moreno twenty years ago. Or Diane Lane ten years from now. I looked up actresses over 70 and the only other name I could come up with who would be better in the role is probably Sally Field? God, Sally Field would be amazing in it. That being said, Jane will bring something important to Sybil – an indefatigable battleaxe quality which is needed. It will be interesting!

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.