After Gary Ross dropped out of the The Hunger Games series, many wondered whether or not he would work with star Jennifer Lawrence again. The answer to that is an unequivocal yes.
Deadline is reporting that Jennifer Lawrence will star in a two-film adaptation of John Steinbeck’s legendary novel East of Eden. The film will reconnect her with The Hunger Games director Gary Ross.
Ross wants Lawrence to play Cathy Ames, the main antagonist of the story. Cathy Ames is “the cold and cruel mother of the boys and estranged wife of the farmer.”
This isn’t the first time the novel has been adapted for the screen. In 1955, the adaptation starred James Dean. It was one of only three movies he starred in before his untimely death at the far too young age of 24. He also starred in Rebel Without a Cause and Giant.
Jennifer Lawrence re-teaming with Gary Ross marks the second time she has re-teamed with a director since her skyrocket rise to fame. She’ll have a role in David O. Russell’s American Hustle, a role that was rewritten to be bigger after she was cast in it.
Susanne Bier will undoubtedly hope that she too can nab Lawrence for another film after she stars in Rules of Inheritance.
Here’s the synopsis of the book found on Amazon:
Set in the rich farmland of California’s Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. The masterpiece of Steinbeck’s later years, “East of Eden” is a work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love’s absence.