The young star of The Book Thief, Sophie Nelisse is set to play the title role in The Great Gilly Hopkins, based on Katherine Paterson’s middle grade novel.

Also signed for the film are Glenn Close, Kathy Bates, Danny Glover and Octavia Spencer. To be directed by Stephen Herek,  it is scheduled to begin shooting on April 9, according to Variety.

The book was a Newbery Honor winner in 1979, the year after Paterson won the Newbery Medal for Bridge to Terabithia.(also made into a film, which Variety notes, grossed ore than $200 million worldwide). In 1981, she won the Newbery for Jacob I Have Loved.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 10th, 2014 at 3:35 pm 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.