By Katey Rich
There's been a huge trend lately with people getting their blogs turned into books, and within that, a subgenre of blogs/books about "For one year I will cook dinner for my family every night/Not use any plastic/Have no impact on the environment." Julie and Julia was one of the earliest, a blog started back in 2003, before Facebook, before "blog" was picked as 2004's "word of the year." The blog followed the struggles of Julie Powell, who challenged herself to cook every single recipe in Julia Child's classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking over the course of a year. Hilarity, frustration, and lessons learned naturally ensued.
I read Julie and Julia the book last fall, and I have to say, it annoyed the hell out of me. Which is why I can't exactly jump for joy that a movie version is coming up, starring Amy Adams as the frustrated cook Powell and Meryl Streep as Child. Nora Ephron is directing--of course!-- and will also adapt the screenplay.
Child isn't actually in the book-- Powell never met her-- but will presumably appear as a guiding force. It will probably be fun to see Streep let loose as the energetic Child, especially a good number of buttoned-up roles of late (Miranda Priestly may have been funny, but she sure didn't know how to crack a joke). Adams is always loveable and entertaining, and can probably make the trials and tribulations of the challenge more charming than Powell did. And really, Ephron's spin on this story will probably be more enjoyable than the book in general, making it a bit more fairy-tale-ish and less description of how the author berates her husban for not wanting to eat her bizarre French concoctions.
So, I take it back-- I guess I'm a little happy this project exists. If nothing else, this might just be the first blog turned book turned movie, and for the rest of us typing away into the Internet-- hi there!-- it's a little spring of hope.
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