The White Lotus's Will Sharpe to Direct 'Crying in H Mart'

"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."

Michelle Zauner's bestselling memoir Crying in H Mart tells the heart-wrenching tale of her relationship with her mother. It's set to become a major motion picture, directed by The White Lotus's Will Sharpe.

Here's everything we know so far about the film:

The film is based on Zauner's memoir of the same name.

The memoir details her experience growing up as one of the few Asian American kids in the very white town of Eugene, Oregon, and the time she spent at her grandmother's apartment in Seoul. The bulk of it focuses on her mother's cancer diagnosis when she was just 25 years old, and turning to Korean food as a way to connect with her mom. (Here, the viral essay in The New Yorker that the book is based on.)

Zauner will write the script for the film. When the news came out, Zauner said, "It is a surreal thrill to have the opportunity to memorialize my mother in film, and I consider it of the highest honor to pursue that task alongside creative luminaries such as Stacey Sher, Jason Kim and Orion Pictures."

Will Sharpe, star of The White Lotus season two, will direct.

"There were lots of things that resonated with me as somebody who is half-Japanese, half-British, spent my childhood in Tokyo," Sharpe said. "Some of the descriptions of being jet-lagged in your family's kitchen felt very familiar to me."

He continued, "I found that it felt universal in its specificity, in that it's so lovingly detailed about the experience of growing up around Korean food and the cooking of Korean food. For me, it would be Japanese food and remembering growing up going to the 7-Elevens and the convenience stores in Tokyo and the dumplings that my mother would make when I was unwell. And I felt like I could recognize that in the descriptions of the Korean porridge or the kimchi and how important that still is to Michelle and how food can carry certain other things within it about your life."

In a statement, Zauner said Sharpe's "sensitivity as a director and an actor, his ability to find humor and grace within the tragedy of the everyday, and his own personal experience, having grown up between two cultures, make him the perfect director for this film."

Zauner, as Japanese Breakfast, will provide the soundtrack for the film.

In addition to being a bestselling memoirist, Zauner performs under the name Japanese Breakfast. She's Korean, not Japanese, and explained her stage name thusly: " I just wanted something that sounded kind of curious, like something that sounded really American and well-known, like breakfast, and combining it with something that I think American people just associate with something exotic or foreign. I thought it would make people curious, like 'What is a Japanese breakfast?' Japanese Breakfast is quite like beautiful and I really enjoy it. I think I was just looking at pictures of it one day and was just like, 'Oh, I'll just release this album under this name.'"

There's an open casting call for the role of Michelle.

Zauner posted on Instagram, "Who will play Ms. Breakfast?" with a poster about an open casting call for the role:

The flyer details that the production is looking for a Korean American, aged 18-25 years old. It asks people to send a "creative video introduction" to hmartopencallcasting@gmail.com

No premiere date has been set yet.

We'll update this as soon as we learn more.

You Might Also Like

• 12 Weekend Getaway Spas For Every Type of Occasion

• 13 Beauty Tools to Up Your At-Home Facial Game