So goes the comeback of Julia Stiles, the once young “Save the Last Dance” star-cum-late 20s burn out starring in schlock like The Omen and The Cry of the Owl. Sure, she had the reoccurring Bourne role, but that didn’t require too much from someone who should have done so much more.
Well, that’s exactly what she’s doing it seems. Not long ago it was announced she’d have a large role on the next season of the Showtime show Dexter. She also turned in a Broadway performance as the vicious Carol in David Mamet’s Oleanna, starring alongside Bill Pullman, last year.
Now the (still) young actress wants to produce and star in an adaptation of The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath. [Gordon and the Whale]
The short, visceral novel recounts much of Plath’s own tortured life as a young woman suffering from depression in the mid-1900s. Unable to “cure” the girl, her parents subject her to electro-shock therapy, as was the norm back in the day. Plath would kill herself at 30 years old.
The film is being written by playwright Tristine Skyler and will be directed by Nicole Kassell, who gave us The Woodsman, which offers one of the best performances of the last decade, courtesy of Kevin Bacon. Virginia Madsen has already signed on to play Dr. Nolan, the doctor who prescribes/oversees the ill-advised therapy.
Above all else, it’s nice to see four talented women collaborating on one of the most controversial female-written, female protagonist-driven written works of all time.
Are you excited to see Julia Stiles play the lead in The Bell Jar?