Meryl Streep to Play Food Guru Julia Child

It's the first day of November and time to start thinking about Thanksgiving. But more importantly it's time to be thinking about food. And cooking. And Julia Child, of course. So, what better time for news that a Julia Child movie is on it's way? According to Variety, Columbia Pictures is adapting Julie Powell's book Julia and Julie: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen, about the author's year-long attempt to cook all the recipes in Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking and detail it in her food blog (and then book). In the movie, which will simply be titled Julia and Julie, Powell will be portrayed by Amy Adams and Child will be played by Meryl Streep. Chick-flick queen Nora Ephron, who needs a comeback following Lucky Numbers and Bewitched, is writing the script and will direct.

Now, Powell never met Child, so the latter character will have to be some kind of apparition for the former. Like a culinary guide. This makes sense, because it just wouldn't be cinecomatic to show Powell simply reading a cook book and then making dishes. But will it still just be a bunch of cooking scenes in a tiny apartment with Amy Adams and a distinctly accented Meryl Streep chatting in the little kitchen? Even with Streep overdoing the part -- a la Dan Aykroyd -- that can't be too interesting. Then again, between Waitress and Ratatouille this year, and movies like Big Night in the past, I do get excited about films showcasing great food. Amazon.com describes the book as being a "masterful medley of Bridget Jones' Diary meets Like Water for Chocolate," so if that sounds good to you, look for Julia and Julie sometime in late 2008 or early 2009.