Wolitzer’s THE WIFE Closer to Screen
The film rights for Meg Wolitzer’s sixth novel, The Wife, (S&S/Scribner, 2003) were signed years ago, but the project is just now heating up.
Last May, it was announced that Glenn Close had signed as the lead with Swedish filmmaker Bjorn Runge directing.
The main cast was recently announced:
Joan Castleman — Glenn Close
Joe Castleman — Jonathan Pryce
David Cattleman, their son — Logan Lerman
Nathaniel Bone, Joe Castleman’s biographer — Christian Slater
Young Joan Castleman — Brit Marling
McDormand her mentor — Frances McDormand
The novel is about a woman who puts aside her own writing career to support her husband’s. He then rewards her by philandering and ignoring their children. It was described in a New York Times review as “a near heartbreaking document of feminist realpolitik.” The feminist angle may have been lost on the movie’s director who calls it, “the story of love, creativity and a secret larger than life itself that the main characters, Joan and Joe, are carrying.”
Shooting is expected to begin this spring.