Meg Ryan back to making rom-coms—this time behind the camera, directing an adaptation of A Lady’s Guide to Selling Out.
According to a report Tuesday in Deadline, the star of When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and You’ve Got Mail is slated to direct the film version of Sally Franson’s 2018 debut novel for Netflix. Like Mail, which was set in a bookstore, and Sally, which featured a meet-cute in a bookstore’s “personal growth” section, Selling Out has a bookish vibe: Its hero, Casey, works at an ad agency pitching novelists to work with corporations. A romance with one of the authors she represents ensues.
In a review of the novel, Kirkus wrote, “Come for the hilarious narration, stay for the whirlwind plot, luxuriate in the satirical gleam.”
Franson celebrated the news on Instagram, writing, “I am crying! I am a mess! I am so grateful to every single person who made this happen that it’s taking all my willpower not to hand-deliver them bread! The only more joyful thing than making creative work is making it with others who understand.”
A Lady’s Guide to Selling Out will mark Ryan’s second film as a director, and her second literary adaptation. In 2015, she both starred in and directed Ithaca, which was based on William Saroyan’s 1943 novel, The Human Comedy.
Playwright Jenny Rachel Weiner will write the screenplay, but other casting details and a release date for the film have not been announced.
Mark Athitakis is a journalist in Phoenix who writes about books for Kirkus, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere.
