Deadline reports the screenwriter Jenny Lumet, the daughter of late Oscar-winning director Sidney Lumet, has signed with Fox 2000 to write The Language of Flowers, an adaptation of the 2011 best-selling inspirational novel by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. The story follows Victoria Jones, who is legally emancipated from the foster care system at the age of 18 and takes refuge at a local park where she plants a garden. This catches the attention of a local florist, and Victoria uses her mastery of the language of flowers (honeysuckle means devotion, etc.) to help others through their trying times. But her brief moment of happiness is challenged when she’s forced to confront a secret from her past.
This only Lumet’s second screenplay; her debut came in 2008 with Rachel Getting Married, the Jonathan Demme-directed indie drama that earned star Anne Hathaway a Best Actress nomination. Like father, like daughter apparently (Sidney Lumet‘s directorial debut was 1957’s Oscar-nominated 12 Angry Men). With that level of success so early — coupled with the tragic death of her father last year — it’s no surprise that it’s taken Lumet nearly half a decade to follow-up Rachel Getting Married. I just hope The Language of Flowers is worthy of her talent; in snap judgment form, I’m not entirely sure.
Have you read The Language of Flowers? Will it make a good movie?