Reese Witherspoon to Adapt Bestseller Where the Crawdads Sing Into a Movie
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From the marsh to the big screen!
Reese Witherspoon will produce a movie version of Delia Owens' debut novel Where the Crawdads Sing. Olivia Newman, who wrote and directed Netflix's First Match, will direct, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Witherspoon, 44, selected Crawdads as her Reese's Book Club pick in September 2018, one month after the book came out. The novel appeared at the top of The New York Times Fiction Best Sellers lists in 2019 and 2020 and also held the honor of being Amazon's top-selling fiction book in 2019.
Where the Crawdads Sing follows Kya, who gets abandoned by her family as a young girl living among the marsh in North Carolina. She learns to fend for herself, refusing to go to school and instead teaching herself about the nature that surrounds her and taking reading lessons from a local boy who becomes Kya's first love. Kya's deep understanding of the environment where she grew up helps her become a best-selling author of nature almanacs.
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While Kya generally keeps to herself, she falls for the town's golden boy — but their romance turns dark when she gets accused of killing him and goes on trial for his murder.
Witherspoon's company Hello Sunshine, which will produce Crawdads, also worked on her adaptations of Wild, Gone Girl, Big Little Lies and Little Fires Everywhere. Little Fires earned a 2020 Emmy nomination earlier this week for Outstanding Limited Series, as well as a leading actress nod for star Kerry Washington and a directing nomination for Lynn Shelton.
Erin Simkin/Hulu Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon in Little Fires Everywhere.
Big Little Lies' Laura Dern and Meryl Streep also picked up supporting actress nominations.
Although Witherspoon herself didn't receive any acting nominations (which outraged the internet), the actress called her shows' recognition "an incredible honor" on Twitter.
Wow what an incredible honor! 3 of our @hellosunshine ☀️ productions are nominated for a total of 18 Emmys… I’m so proud of our team who works tirelessly behind the scenes to bring these stories to life! BRAVO to the cast & crews @LittleFiresHulu @TheMorningShow @Big_Little_Lies
— Reese Witherspoon (@ReeseW) July 28, 2020
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