20 April 2008

Books and the Stars: Miley Cyrus, Mike White and ABC

Memoiry Miley: Tween singing sensation and Disney Channel star Miley Cyrus is writing her autobiography at the tender age of 15, and by "writing" we mean "hiring someone to write." In case you don't know any preteens or my 22-year-old sister, Cyrus, the daughter of Billy Ray "Achy Breaky Heart" Cyrus, plays a girl named Miley who has a secret double life as pop star Hannah Montana. Earlier this year, her concert film "Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert" broke the record for opening on a Super Bowl weekend . Of course, she's just trying to keep up with her assonant show alter ego, who appears in many books already.

Socialite saga: I just discovered the Powell's Books blog, attached to the venerable and delightful used bookstore, and they have a book into film category with tons of good news. Something that jumped out to me: Director and actor Mike White (who helmed "Year of the Dog" but is best known as Jack Black's milquetoast roommate in "School of Rock") just signed on to adapt and produce a movie version of Sean Wilsey's memoir OH THE GLORY OF IT ALL, one of my favorite nonfiction books of 2007. I'm thinking Paul Dano as the young Sean Wilsey and Amy Poehler gets an Oscar nom for her first serious role as his mom, with... hmmm... Jude Law and Jessica Walter playing them when they're older.

Real real housewives: In further development news, author Jennifer Weiner (whose reading I went to a few weeks ago) signed an "overall deal" with ABC. A what? Weiner writes on her blog, "What the deal means is that I'll come up with ideas, and help steer the ship should any of the ideas turn into a TV show." She won't give up writing books, though. Jane Smiley has yet to comment on what she thinks of Weiner's latest career move.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ghostwritten or no, if H. Montana's book is anywhere as good as it looks, I have to give it a read! http://www.236.com/news/2008/04/21/the_autobiography_of_miley_cyr_5962.php