Word first broke last fall that The Hunger Games helmer Gary Ross was planning to re-team with star Jennifer Lawrence for a new adaptation of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. Today, The Hollywood Reporter offers an update, bringing word that Ross will now provide the project’s adapted screenplay as well.
First published in 1952, East of Eden is Steinbeck’s retelling of the Cain and Abel story, set in California’s Salinas Valley. Lawrence would play the book’s chief antagonist, Cathy Ames, the mother of brothers Caleb and Aron Trask. The Ames role won Jo Van Fleet an Academy Award for Elia Kazan 1955 adaptation.
Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer are developing the adaptation, which was originally being eyed as two different features. There is no confirmation as of yet whether or not Ross still plans to approach the material with two films in mind.
Although Ross departed the franchise, Lawrence was recently seen reprising her role as Katniss Everdeen in director Francis Lawrence’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. She’ll also be back for the Lawrence-helmed The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part One and Part Two.
