Not long ago a recurring award-season favorite, Hilary Swank has fallen off our radar of late appearing in such underwhelming offerings as Amelia, New Year's Eve, and Conviction, the last of which managed some critical praise but floundered at the box office. Now it seems Swank is looking to correct her course by producing a vehicle for herself in the tearjerker drama that is her forte with You're Not You.
Based on the first novel of Michelle Wildgen, the film will focus on the friendship that forms between a thirty-something woman afflicted with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) and her 23-year-old caretaker who is struggling to make sense of her own life, balancing a disinterest in her course load and an affair with her married professor. Swank is lined up to play the part of the immobilized invalid, and Variety reports she has selected George C. Wolfe to be her director.
Wolfe is best-known for his Tony Award-winning productions of the theatrical stage shows of Tony Kushner's Angels In America: Millennium Approaches and the off-Broadway musical Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk. However, he made the leap to helming feature films in 2008, directing the Nicholas Sparks' romance Nights in Rodanthe, which memorably starred Diane Lane and Richard Gere. His hiring coupled with the fact that the screenplay was penned by Country Strong writer-director Shana Feste then revised by Dolphin's Tale polisher Jordan Roberts suggests You're Not You will lean hard into the realm of melodrama.
As to who will co-star opposite Swank, we should find out soon since production on You're Not You is slated to begin early November in Los Angeles.
