Oscar nominees Amy Adams (American Hustle, Vice, The Fighter) and Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler, Brokeback Mountain, Prisoners) are teaming up to produce the feature adaptation of scientist Suzanne Simard’s memoir Finding the Mother Tree after their respective production companies landed rights to the project, according to Variety. Simard’s book, fully titled Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, was published today by Knopf and was quickly acquired by Adams’ Bond Group Entertainment and Gyllenhaal’s Nine Stories.
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Adams will star in the movie adaptation of the novel, which recounts Simard’s groundbreaking and once-ridiculed research. The book is described as “a dazzling scientific detective story about the woman who first discovered how trees communicate underground through an immense web of fungi.”
“The forest has taught me that our relationships—with each other and with the trees, plants, and animals around us—are what make our lives beautiful, strong, and healthy. I’m thrilled to be partnering with the visionaries at Nine Stories and the Bond Group to bring this story to the screen and share it with people everywhere,” said Simard.
Pick up your copy of the memoir here!
The adaptation will be produced by Adams and Stacy O’Neil for Bond Group Entertainment, along with Gyllenhaal and Riva Marker for Nine Stories. Noah Stal will oversee for Nine Stories with Kate Clifford overseeing for Bond Group Entertainment.
“Finding the Mother Tree is a rare and moving book—part charming memoir, part crash course in forest ecology. And yet, it manages to be about the things that matter most: the ways we care for each other, fail each other and listen to each other. After the last year and a half, its lessons about motherhood, connection, and the natural world are more timely than ever, and we are thrilled to partner with Amy, Stacy, and their company, and Suzanne Simard to adapt this majestic story to film,” said Gyllenhaal and Marker.
“Suzanne’s novel has been an inspiration. Creatively, it excited us with a narrative about the awe-invoking power of nature and the compelling parallels in Suzanne’s personal life. It forever transformed our views of the world and the interconnectivity of our environment. Finding the Mother Tree is not only a deeply beautiful memoir about one woman’s impactful life, it’s also a call to action to protect, understand and connect with the natural world. We’re thrilled to partner with Jake & Riva to bring Suzanne’s important life story to screen and expand the reach of her groundbreaking work,” added Adams and O’Neil.
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Simard’s work has been credited with inspiring filmmakers such as James Cameron’s Avatar as well as author Richard Powers’ novel The Overstory, along with being praised for having “planetary significance.”
