Reese Witherspoon will help bring Dolly Parton and James Patterson’s novel, Run, Rose, Run, to the big screen, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Witherspoon is producing the film adaptation of Parton and Patterson’s book along with the authors and Lauren Neustadter (Big Little Lies).
Run, Rose, Run, the first collaboration between the country music superstar and the bestselling thriller novelist, was published by Little, Brown earlier this month. The novel follows an aspiring musician with a dark past; a critic for Kirkus wrote of the book, “The fairy-tale characters and details of the country-music scene are so much fun you won’t mind the silly plot.”
In an interview with Kirkus published earlier this month, Patterson said he and Parton had spoken to several producers who were interested in adapting their novel.
“We had 70 offers,” Patterson said. “We Zoomed the final six. It’s come down to Spielberg versus Reese Witherspoon.”
Witherspoon and her production company Hello Sunshine won out, it seems, and will be behind the movie, which will star Parton—but not Patterson.
“I wanted to play [guitarist] Ethan Blake,” Patterson told Kirkus, “but no way. OK, I said, how about Jack [Ruthanna’s manager]? Dolly had to break it to me. Based on my acting ability, not even Jack.”
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
