Back in 2023, author Emma Cline told The Guardian that Todd Field had written a “great script” that was “bananas” based on her own novel, “The Girls.”
“The Girls” caused a bidding war, as part of a three-book deal, and finally sold to HULU for a seven-figure sum. At one point, producer Scott Rudin was looking for a director. Would Field, coming off the decade-defining “TAR,” direct his own script? We now have our answer.
A new Production Weekly listing for “The Girls,” based on Field’s script, has Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic attached to direct. HULU is no longer directly involved, but rather Focus Features. A shoot in November is planned.
Kusijanovic’s “Murina” — atmospheric and intimate — won the Camera d’Or at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, making her the first Croatian filmmaker to receive the prestigious award. The film also marked a striking debut, following a teenage girl who develops a flirtatious and complicated relationship with her father’s wealthy friend.
Since then, Kusijanovic has continued to develop projects internationally, making her attachment to “The Girls” a notable next step in her career. Field writing the script now makes this a must-see.
Cline came up with the idea for “The Girls,” which tells a loose fictionalized version of the Sharon Tate murder, as a kind of “container” for a lot of thoughts she wanted to explore “about California, and girlhood,” among other things.
The novel, set in Northern California in the late 1960s, follows a teenage girl who becomes fascinated by a group of older girls and their charismatic, manipulative leader, before being drawn into a violent cult-like world. Rather than retelling the Tate murders directly, Cline uses the real-life tragedy as a loose framework for a coming-of-age story about female adolescence, obsession, loneliness and seductive power.
Field has directed only three films in 25 years — “In the Bedroom” (2001), “Little Children” (2006), and “TÁR” (2022). However, thanks to the latter, he’s arguably never been hotter. Cinephiles another Todd Field movie, and although we might have to wait for his next directorial effort, “The Girls” will have to suffice for now.
Cianfrance is coming off last year’s “Roofman.” His past works include “Blue Valentine,” “The Place Beyond the Pines,” and co-writing the Oscar-winning “Sound of Metal.”