Julia Roberts, one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, is taking her first major step into the binge-watching age.
She has signed on to star in a limited-series adaptation of “Today Will Be Different,” a novel by Maria Semple (“Where’d You Go, Bernadette”), Annapurna Pictures said Thursday. No timing or network has been announced. But if Ms. Roberts is getting serious about the small screen, there are plenty of other projects that fans (well, some of us) might like to see her tackle.
Keep Adapting Novels
Ms. Roberts knows how to mine material about women who leave, find or misplace love. Her 2010 film “Eat Pray Love,” adapted from Elizabeth Gilbert’s 2006 memoir, did well at the box office, and her performance as a frustrated wife and daughter in the adaptation of the play “August: Osage County” earned her an Oscar nomination. “Eat Pray Love” has actually produced a real-life sequel opportunity: Ms. Gilbert said in July that she was leaving her husband — because she had fallen in love with her best friend.
Visit Unfamiliar Territory, Like the Upside Down
I’m not sure if Julia Roberts has any interest in frantic Christmas light displays, but it has worked out well for Winona Ryder in “Stranger Things.” Good acting on sci-fi projects that hit close to home, like that Netflix series or shows like “Mr. Robot” and “Orphan Black, is the stuff of awards season glory — or, at least, water cooler debates.
The World Needs More Erin Brockoviches
Who are the female activists working on behalf of Flint, Mich., and the Standing Rock Sioux? Ms. Roberts may be a lodestar for the modern romantic comedy, but when she plays an activist, her work is just as memorable. The 2000 film “Erin Brockovich” centered around a single mother who helped build a legal case against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company for toxic dumping in Hinkley, Calif. That role earned Ms. Roberts an Oscar for best actress.
“Today Will Be Different” would not be her first foray into TV. In the 2014 HBO TV movie “The Normal Heart,” Ms. Roberts played a doctor who fought for more financing for H.I.V. research.
Stars Hollow Is Not the Only Place for Friendship Drama
The 1988 movie “Mystic Pizza” was a breakout role for Ms. Roberts. In her role as the pizza-making waitress Daisy, we were introduced to both The Hair and That Smile. What happened to the women who grew up in the seaport town of Mystic, Conn.? The recent “Gilmore Girls” season proved that Connecticut has more tales to tell. Let’s hope that Mystic Pizza was not forced to go gluten-free.
O.K., Maybe Just One More Rom-Com
I, for one, would be happy to see Julia Roberts head to Britain to reprise her role as Anna Scott, the Oscar-winning actress who falls in love with a travel bookstore owner in “Notting Hill.”
Has Anna weathered the rise of TMZ and the Kardashians? (Given that the movie is loosely based on Ms. Roberts’s insane level of celebrity, odds are good.) Has Anna’s husband, Will, been able to survive the e-book revolution at his travel bookstore? (Sorry, Will. Outlook not so good.)
She has signed on to star in a limited-series adaptation of “Today Will Be Different,” a novel by Maria Semple (“Where’d You Go, Bernadette”), Annapurna Pictures said Thursday. No timing or network has been announced. But if Ms. Roberts is getting serious about the small screen, there are plenty of other projects that fans (well, some of us) might like to see her tackle.
Keep Adapting Novels
Ms. Roberts knows how to mine material about women who leave, find or misplace love. Her 2010 film “Eat Pray Love,” adapted from Elizabeth Gilbert’s 2006 memoir, did well at the box office, and her performance as a frustrated wife and daughter in the adaptation of the play “August: Osage County” earned her an Oscar nomination. “Eat Pray Love” has actually produced a real-life sequel opportunity: Ms. Gilbert said in July that she was leaving her husband — because she had fallen in love with her best friend.
Visit Unfamiliar Territory, Like the Upside Down
I’m not sure if Julia Roberts has any interest in frantic Christmas light displays, but it has worked out well for Winona Ryder in “Stranger Things.” Good acting on sci-fi projects that hit close to home, like that Netflix series or shows like “Mr. Robot” and “Orphan Black, is the stuff of awards season glory — or, at least, water cooler debates.
The World Needs More Erin Brockoviches
Who are the female activists working on behalf of Flint, Mich., and the Standing Rock Sioux? Ms. Roberts may be a lodestar for the modern romantic comedy, but when she plays an activist, her work is just as memorable. The 2000 film “Erin Brockovich” centered around a single mother who helped build a legal case against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company for toxic dumping in Hinkley, Calif. That role earned Ms. Roberts an Oscar for best actress.
“Today Will Be Different” would not be her first foray into TV. In the 2014 HBO TV movie “The Normal Heart,” Ms. Roberts played a doctor who fought for more financing for H.I.V. research.
Stars Hollow Is Not the Only Place for Friendship Drama
The 1988 movie “Mystic Pizza” was a breakout role for Ms. Roberts. In her role as the pizza-making waitress Daisy, we were introduced to both The Hair and That Smile. What happened to the women who grew up in the seaport town of Mystic, Conn.? The recent “Gilmore Girls” season proved that Connecticut has more tales to tell. Let’s hope that Mystic Pizza was not forced to go gluten-free.
O.K., Maybe Just One More Rom-Com
I, for one, would be happy to see Julia Roberts head to Britain to reprise her role as Anna Scott, the Oscar-winning actress who falls in love with a travel bookstore owner in “Notting Hill.”
Has Anna weathered the rise of TMZ and the Kardashians? (Given that the movie is loosely based on Ms. Roberts’s insane level of celebrity, odds are good.) Has Anna’s husband, Will, been able to survive the e-book revolution at his travel bookstore? (Sorry, Will. Outlook not so good.)
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