Even if he was snubbed for the two biggest Oscars this year in favour of Birdman, Richard Linklater’s star is as high as its ever been – and he’s now in talks for his next post-Boyhood project.

He’s being lined up to helm a film adaptation of Maria Semple’s novel Where’d You Go, Bernadette, which became a slow-burning bestseller following its publication in 2012. The book is being adapted by Scott Neustadter and Michael H Weber, who turned John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars into a hit screenplay.




They may well smooth out Semple’s novel a little – it’s a fragmentary work told through instant messages, letters, doctor’s reports, a TED talk and more, exploring how the titular Bernadette absconds from her family and her career as an award-winning architect. It’s told through the eyes of her 15-year-old daughter Bee, who goes on a cruise to the Antarctic to try and find her.

The film is being shepherded by Annapurna Pictures, the indie powerhouse run by Megan Ellison, daughter of software billionaire Larry Ellison. Known for taking quirky stories to big audiences, the company’s previous hits include Her, Spring Breakers and Foxcatcher.

Two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett is in advanced negotiations to star in Richard Linklater‘s adaptation of “Where’d You Go, Bernadatte,” TheWrap has learned.

The project is set up at Annapurna Pictures, whose Megan Ellison will produce with Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson of Color Force.

“Bernadette” follows an agoraphobic architect who disappears right before a family trip to Antarctica. Her teenage daughter narrates the story, which unfolds via emails, letters, FBI documents and correspondence with a psychiatrist.

“The Fault in Our Stars” screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber adapted Maria Semple’s 2012 bestseller.

MyCocaine wrote:Quite an impressive list of directors she has worked with:

Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Terrence Malick, Wes Anderson and now Linklater.

That is even more impressive than DiCaprio, which is saying a lot.

ArmandFancypants wrote:

MyCocaine wrote:Quite an impressive list of directors she has worked with:

Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Terrence Malick, Wes Anderson and now Linklater.

That is even more impressive than DiCaprio, which is saying a lot.

Yeah, DiCaprio's only worked with Spielberg, Scorsese, Allen, Mendes, Nolan, Eastwood, Tarantino, Scott, Boyle and Cameron. What a mug!

MyCocaine wrote:DiCaprio has never worked with Allen.

Allstar wrote:

MyCocaine wrote:DiCaprio has never worked with Allen.

Yes he has.