Jeff Bridges’ 15-year long effort to adapt Lois Lowry’s seminal YA dystopian novel, The Giver (HMH, 1993; winner of the 1994 Newbery Medal) is finally coming to fruition. A release date of Aug. 15 next year has been announced, with production  set to begin this month in Cape Town, South Africa.

Australian actor Brenton Thwaites will star as Jonas, a young boy in a utopian society that has eliminated conflict via conversion to the “Sameness.” Jonas has been selected by the Giver to become the “Receiver of Memory” who knows the truths behind the facade. Jeff Bridges will star as The Giver (a role Bridges originally envisioned for his father, Lloyd Bridges). Meryl Streep will play the Chief Elder of the community; Katie Holmes, Jonas’s mother; Alexander Skarsgard, Jonas’s father; Cameron Monaghan, Jonas’s best friend Asher; and Odeye Rush, Jonas’s friend and love interest Fiona.

Bringing new attention to the production, it was recently announced that singer Taylor Swift is also joining the cast.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 1st, 2013 at 10:17 am and is filed under Books & Movies, Childrens and YA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.