Universal has just snatched up the rights to an as of yet unpublished memoir called “How Starbucks Saved My Life”, and they’ve hired Tom Hanks to sip a Sumatran blend it.
Variety says the book is written by Michael Gates Gill, and tells his story as a former ad agency exec who suddenly finds himself unemployed after being downsized and divorced after an affair. He’s in his 60’s and his life is in a tailspin. But his luck changes when he walks into a Starbucks and gets a job offer from the store’s manager.
Hanks would presumably play Gill, though it’s kind of hard to imagine Tom at a very young 50 playing a man in his 60’s. Expect the character to be made a little younger for film. Tom will also produce the movie, through his Playtone production company. Every actor has one these days. First though, Tom will work on Mike Nichols next movie Charlie Wilson’s War with Julia Roberts. He’ll have to fit Starbucks in afterwards.
Gus Van Sant is slated to direct How Starbucks Saved My Life. Gus’s recent work has been filled with weird failures like Last Days, but not so long ago he did quality work. His last movie worth seeing was 2000’s Finding Forrester and once upon a time he directed Good Will Hunting.
