By JENNIKA INGRAM | Reporter
Multi-talented Palisadian Reese Witherspoon will wear her producer hat for the upcoming film production of “Where the Crawdads Sing.”
Witherspoon will co-produce the murder mystery feature with partner Lauren Neustadter.
The 2018 New York Times bestseller, penned by nature writer Delia Owens, will be adapted to the big screen by Witherspoon’s production company, Hello Sunshine.
Originally chosen as Reese’s Book Club pick in 2018, the book went on to become Amazon’s most sold fiction novel of 2019, with more than seven million copies worldwide.
The story, set in a North Carolina coastal town, is about Kya Clark, otherwise known as the Marsh Girl by residents in Barkley Cove. Abandoned by her family very young, she raised herself in the marshes in the 1950s and ’60s.
When the “star quarterback and town hotshot” is found dead and linked to Kya by a former love affair, she becomes the prime suspect in the murder case and must stand trial.
Newcomer Olivia Newman is set to direct the female-driven project, currently in pre-production. Her debut feature film, “First Match,” is a Netflix original and won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature Film at South by Southwest, the Austin-based film and music festival, in 2018.
Lucy Alibar (“Troop”) is writing the screenplay for 3000 Pictures, Sony Pictures’ literary film banner, with Newman overseeing the rewrite, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Elizabeth Gabler, Erin Siminoff and Aislinn Dunster are overseeing for 3000 Pictures,” the report continued.
“We tell stories we love—from big to small, funny to complex—all shining a light on where women are now and helping them chart a new path forward,” according to the Hello Sunshine website.
Hello Sunshine productions have included Emmy-nominated hits such as “Big Little Lies,” “The Morning Show” and “Little Fires Everywhere.”
As the Post went to print, no release date for “Where the Crawdads Sing” had been confirmed.
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