the firday night knitting club Tagged Articles at Cinematical

For a guy who's usually at his best when he writes about male relationships, The Friday Night Knitting Club was probably the last project I expected Mike Binder to be involved in. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Reign Over Me director has been hired to adapt Kate Jacobs' popular novel for the big screen, with Julia Roberts attached to produce and star. Knitting Club is similar in nature to Binder's The Upside of Anger -- both feature single moms who find themselves in a situation where they are forced to juggle several responsibilities at once; in this case, it's running a knitting store while raising a teenage daughter.

Currently, no director is attached, though I imagine Binder would be up for the part if he turns in a dynamite script. One of the reasons why I think Binder was hired for the job, and might also snag the helming gig, is because the film (and book) is set in New York City -- where, lately, these little knitting shops are all the rage. There aren't many writer-directors who truly know how to capture a city; to use its tenacious beauty as a character within the film. Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese are the NYC masters (though both men have recently expanded their repertoires by setting their films in other cities across the globe). While Binder isn't quite at that level, Reign Over Me showed he's more than capable of providing an enjoyable NYC-based film. I've always been a Binder fan (that first season of Mind of a Married Man was freaking hilarious), and would totally support his directing Knitting Club. Here's hoping he knows how to knit -- most of the guys I know are clueless when it comes to that stuff.

While she's been limited to voice work for the past two years and hasn't physically appeared on screen since Ocean's Twelve, Julia Roberts is everywhere right now. She's currently gearing up for a major comeback -- My Best Friend's Wedding-style -- and will be kicking off Roberts Revival 2006 with a role in the live-action film (yay!) Charlie Wilson's War (which actually comes out in 2007, so we might need to revise the Revival year). Following that, Roberts will be starring in an adaptation of The Friday Night Knitting Club, and she's also developing a live-action film surrounding those American Girl dolls. Oh, and at some point she will settle down in order to Eat, Pray, Love. Busy much?

Well, tack on another one for Roberts, because Variety reports the actress will produce and most likely star in another adaptation -- the best-selling novel Happiness Sold Separately (cute title, eh?), written by Lolly Winston. Scott Coffey (who made his directorial debut with last year's Ellie Parker) will adapt and direct, while Fox Searchlight is in negotiations to distribute. If she takes the role, Roberts will play a suburban wife (as soon as you hear that character description, you instantly know someone is cheating on their spouse) whose marriage begins to evaporate after her husband -- wait for it -- has an affair with the nutritionist at their gym. Sexy ... yet, sad. I dig it.

What's with all these "club" pics lately? First, it was announced that a ton of folks had signed on to star in The Jane Austen Book Club, based off the popular Joy Fowler novel, and now Julia Roberts has been brought onboard to topline The Friday Night Knitting Club. Unfortunately, neither film will follow in the footsteps of my favorite club-ish flick, Fight Club, however that doesn't mean they're bad movies, just different ... and with a lot less testosterone.

Based off Kate Jacob's upcoming novel, Knitting Club revolves around a single mother (Roberts) who finds it difficult to juggle all of life's responsibilities, which include providing for her teenage daughter and running her New York City-based knitting store. (By the way, these knitting stores are the hot new thing in NYC -- they're cropping up all over the place, and suddenly everyone who is anyone wants to learn how to knit. Um, except me. But that's a different story.) Of course, within this knitting store, a group of folks gather together on Friday nights to knit, and when tragedy strikes, "the customers realize they've created more than just a knitting club." Oohh, does it suddenly turn into a psychotic serial killers club? I highly doubt it (sorry Weinberg).

After taking some time off, Julia Roberts is attempting to revive her career on the big screen in a huge way, as she's currently filming Charlie Wilson's War (alongside folks like Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman), and just recently signed a deal to star in Eat, Pray, Love for Paramount. Oh, and she's also developing a feature film based on those adorable American Girl dolls. Does Roberts still have it in her to WOW us on screen? What do you think?