Julia Roberts Was ‘Framed’

Oscar winner Julia Roberts looks primed to star in Framed, an upcoming film that appears to be starting to come together. The movie, based on true events, is centered around Kelli Peters, disgraced PTA mom whose ordeal was chronicled in Christopher Goffard’s memorable six-part Los Angeles Times series. Mashable was the first to report this story.

Peters was once a respected California mother whose reputation was permanently altered after she was framed for drug possession by parents of another student at her daughter’s Irvine elementary school. The parents in question – Jill and Kent Easter – planted marijuana as well as pill in Peters’ car as part of a smear campaign against the PTA mom. The attempt to was to not only destroy Peters’ reputation but also get her ousted as the PTA president. Reportedly, this action was followed after repeated harassment from the Easters (both of whom were lawyers) stemming from a prior instance in which there son was left locked outside the school for a short time while reportedly in the care of Peters herself. Criminal charges were eventually brought against both Easters.

The film version of this sordid tale is based on the book I’ll Get You!’ Drugs, Lies, and the Terrorizing of a PTA Mom, which was authored by Peters and Sam Rule. While no director or writers have been announced for Framed, this vehicle appears to be groomed specifically with Roberts in mind; she is also reportedly set to produce the title. Framed doesn’t yet have a distribution home but given the star attached, one will likely come shortly, Mashable suggests early interest may lie in both Paramount and Fox 2000.

Framed continues a maternal bent for Roberts as of late. Earlier this year, she appeared in Garry Marshall‘s final film Mother’s Day, while she is currently filming Wonder, in which she plays the mother of young boy with a facial deformity (played by Room‘s Jacob Tremblay). Roberts also portrayed a mother fraught by the murder of her teenage child in last fall’s Secret in Their Eyes. She was last seen on screens in Jodie Foster’s Money Monster opposite George Clooney.

We shall stay tuned to future developments regarding Framed.