I grabbed this before Bedhead had a chance to see it! *villainess cackle* My interest in this story is not so much about Jennifer Lawrence, but about John Steinbeck. I am an unapologetic Steinbeck fan-girl. I think he’s arguably one of the greatest American writers of all time. Many people get stuck on The Grapes of Wrath and never reach beyond it to read Steinbeck’s other works, which are for the most part much less depressing. One of my favorite Steinbeck novels, East of Eden, was already adapted into a film in the 1950s – it starred James Dean, and it was okay. Dean is wonderful in the film but I never really felt like it was a genuine adaptation of the original novel. So now Hollywood is going to try again, only it sounds like they’re trying to make it into some kind of vehicle for Jennifer Lawrence? What the what?

Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer have closed a deal with the John Steinbeck estate for a new version of his seminal novel East Of Eden that will be developed as a re-team for The Hunger Games director Gary Ross and Jennifer Lawrence.

I’m told that the book is Ross’ favorite American novel and that the director plans to tell the generational story in two films. The novel previously was adapted into one picture, the 1955 Elia Kazan-directed film that starred James Dean and Richard Davalos as sons who compete for the attention of their farmer father in Salinas, CA. Ross wants Lawrence to play Cathy Ames, the cold and cruel mother of the boys and estranged wife of the farmer. The films will tell their stories, leading into the rivalry between their sons.

The studio and Imagine first acquired the 1952 novel back in 2004. This was after Steinbeck’s modern retelling of the Cain and Abel story shot back up the best-seller lists when Oprah Winfrey made it the first selection of the revived book club on her daytime talk show. I’m told that the original option lapsed, but then the studio and Grazer put together a new deal in a competitive situation, this one built around Ross and Lawrence, the latter of whom won the Academy Award in February for Silver Linings Playbook. Universal Pictures chairman Donna Langley was very involved, as was Jeffrey Kirschenbaum, Uni’s co-president of production.

Back to Steinbeck, who is hot stuff. This is the second recent seismic deal for the late author; in July, DreamWorks and Steven Spielberg made a deal to mount a new version of the Steinbeck classic The Grapes Of Wrath.

On East Of Eden, Universal, Grazer and Ross are still working out the particulars. When the studio acquired the book the first time, it got a script by Paul Attanasio. It is unclear at the moment if Ross will rewrite it himself or work with a writer. Ross will most certainly have a hand in the writing; he is a four time Oscar-nominee whose book adaptations include Seabiscuit and The Hunger Games. The intention is to get the picture into production after Ross directs Peter And The Starcatchers for Sony and Disney, which is his take on the Peter Pan legend. Lawrence will catch up with Ross and East Of Eden after she completes the final two installments of The Hunger Games series. She will next be seen in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and the David O Russell-directed American Hustle from Sony.

[From Deadline]

Deadline also points out that Ross and Lawrence are also going to reteam for the film adaptation of the Hannah Kent novel Burial Rites. Basically, everybody wants Jennifer Lawrence for everything, even if she’s not really right for the part and even if the character is like 40 or 50 years old through much of the story. While the “Cathy Ames” character is central to the story, I worry that if the adaptation is built around Jennifer Lawrence as “the star,” you will lose a great deal of the story. The story is much more than Cathy Ames.

It’s always sort of amazed me that some of Steinbeck’s “minor” works don’t get the big Hollywood treatment – his books like Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday are much more “adaptable”. I see that someone already tried to do Cannery Row back in the 1980s, but that’s a great story and it would be interesting to see them try to do it again.

Photos courtesy of WENN.