Lionsgate has acquired the movie rights to Cosmopolitan editor Jessica Knoll’s first novel, Luckiest Girl Alive, and has tapped Reese Witherspoon to produce under her Pacific Standard Films banner. The book won’t hit shelves until May 12, but it has already gained enough steam to garner a future film adaptation.
The story will follow a wealthy 28-year-old Manhattanite who has built herself the facade of a perfect life. Her prim world soon begins to fall apart when a dark secret from her past threatens to resurface.
Witherspoon and partner Bruna Papandrea created their company Pacific Standard Films in 2012. Their first two films together were last year’s Wild and Gone Girl, both of which garnered Best Actress Oscar nominations for Witherspoon and Rosamund Pike, respectively. As the actress-producer continues to support and develop dynamic roles for women—including this year’s Hot Pursuit in which she and Sofia Vergara (TV’s Modern Family) will star—Luckiest Girl Alive will likely have great chances at critical and box office success while in her and Lionsgate’s capable hands. According to a statement from Witherspoon quoted in The Wrap:
‘Luckiest Girl Alive‘ is the kind of book that grabs you and doesn’t let go. The hero of the book is a wily, intelligent, complex narrator. This character and the thrilling narrative that she drives are exactly the kind of story our company, Pacific Standard Films, wants to produce. We are thrilled to be collaborating with Jessica and Lionsgate to bring her debut novel to the screen.