It’s become fairly common for actors to make the transition into directing, especially in recent years with the likes of Ben Affleck and Angelina Jolie finding strong second careers behind the camera.
It probably was felt by anyone who has met her, that actress Scarlett Johansson would probably direct something eventually since she has such a strong and opinionated personality which has been present since she started acting as a teenager. Maybe appearing in Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut Don Jon gave her the kick in the pants she needed since word’s coming out of Cannes (aka Announcement Central) that Johansson will direct a movie based on Truman Capote’s first novel Summer Crossing.
Apparently, Capote wrote the story about a 17-year-old debutante who gets into a romance with a Jewish valet parking attendant in a 1945 summer heat wave, and then threw the novel away before it was published. The manuscript then resurfaced in 2004 when it was published with the blessing of Capote’s former editor.
Having struck a fancy to the material, Johansson gave the following quote for the press release:
Several years ago I began working alongside the Capote estate and writer Tristine Skylar to adapt Summer Crossing, an inspired early work of Trumans which has long captured my heart. Being able to bring this story to the screen as my full-length directorial debut is a life dream and deep privilege.
Oleg Boyko will produce and finance the film along with Aldamisa’s Sergei Bespalov and Barry Spikings with Peter D. Graves exec. producing and plans to start filming in early 2014.
(Photo source: Joseph Marzullo/WENN.com)
