The pandemic changed many of our habits. Most of us found a new hobby so we could be distracted from the madness happening around us; some learned how to make bread, others started doing crochet, but, most importantly, a lot of people finally had time to read more and fall in love with literature. Entertainment was a refuge from such a sad reality we were in, and books were a way of teleporting to fantasy worlds, imagining new realities, going to the future or revisiting the past. During this time, many authors and stories gained more recognition, and one of them was our beloved Taylor Jenkins Reid.
Born on December 20, 1983, Taylor Jenkins Reid wasn’t always an author. Shortly after graduating from college, Reid worked as a casting assistant and took writing as a part-time job. It was only after 2013, the year she published her first novel Forever, Interrupted, that her career as a professional author began. Since then, she has released seven other stories, including six books and one short story, all of them surrounding themes like womanhood, love, relationships in general and sometimes even fame. She’s well known for writing best-sellers, however, her biggest hits are The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones and The Six, both books that became even more famous during the pandemic, in 2020.
Due to such success, the fans demanded to see many cherished characters from those books translated into real life. Naturally, the adaptations of such amazing stories are extremely expected on the big screen. Today, we are gonna tell you everything we know from the Daisy Jones series and Seven Husbands movie until now.
Daisy Jones And The Six – Prime Video
Daisy Jones and The Six is the biography of a made-up band created by Taylor Jenkins Reid. We follow the rise and the sudden fall of the 70s rock band The Six, but especially the stories of Billy Dune, the vocalist, and Daisy Jones, an empowered and young singer from Hollywood, who meet after an arrangement that promised to take the band to the next level. The whole book is written in a documentary-like format, while all of the band members and people involved with the production tell their versions of the same story, filled with friction, gossip that only bands from the 70s can yield, love triangles, and, of course, music.
In the middle of 2018, a few months before its release, Prime Video had already ordered a 13-episode series based on the book, produced by none other than Reese Witherspoon under the banner of her production company Hello Sunshine. Three years and one pandemic later, the production finally started in September of 2021, uniting seven talented actors who will bring these complex and loved characters to life, such as Sam Claflin playing the talented yet problematic Billy Dune (we are hoping he doesn’t die in this one) and Riley Keough as the irreverent and fascinating Daisy Jones, who is not only a fantastic actress but also Elvis Presley’s granddaughter, she definitely understands the rockstar world!
The incredible cast also includes big names like Suki Waterhouse as Karen Sirko and Camila Morrone as Camila Dunne – who will live the love drama with Billy and Daisy. Even though the screenplay has suffered a few changes and some characters were cut from the series (Pete the bassist player is nowhere to be found), I’m confident this energetic cast combined with incredible production, such as the director Niki Caro, who directed Mulan (2020), will result in a thrilling experience that will make us adore the band and their music as much as TJR’s original novel did! And who wouldn’t be excited to finally hear the passionate songs Billy and Daisy wrote? The series doesn’t have a release date yet, but is expected to come out this year.
The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo – Netflix
Evelyn Hugo was the most promising actress in the industry during the 50s and 60s. She was an icon of the golden era of Hollywood, known for her successful movies and the hundreds of controversies she was in every now and then: seven marriages, polemic movies, a strong personality and a lot of secrets are what characterize this notorious figure.
She also didn’t exist. Taylor Jenkins Reid was capable of creating a symbol that even makes us question what is reality and what is fiction. Evelyn is a palpable character who made thousands of people lose their heads over her, especially after the boom the book had in Tiktok during 2020 and 2021. This year, the adaptation of such a memorable story is more than anticipated by the public and the expectations couldn’t be higher.
Originally, Freeform was responsible for adapting Evelyn’s life into a series, with Ilene Chaiken and Jennifer Beals (both known for The L Word) as executive producers. A few years went by and the project got off the paper, that’s when Netflix came by, took the project to themselves, changed the format to a feature-length film, and brought Liz Tigelaar (Little Fires Everywhere) to the writing team, creating whole new expectations for how we are going to see the actress’ intense trajectory in real life.
There is still not much information about the Netflix adaptation. The casting, releasing date or the beginning of the shootings haven’t been informed to the public yet. However, even though I believe the feature film format isn’t enough to tell a story as complex as Evelyn’s – a short series would fit much better, where each episode could correspond to a husband – I still have high hopes for this production. Not only because the streaming has an enjoyable catalog, but also for trusting that a platform as big as Netflix wouldn’t sabotage a beautiful, inspiring and important novel like The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Everything this narrative needs is a wonderful casting and great screenplay, which is almost sure with Liz Tigelaar involved!
Other Productions
Other titles from TJR are also going to be translated into the screens. Reid’s most recent book Malibu Rising is already in its production phase by Hulu, Liz Tigelaar is involved again, although this time as a screenwriter and executive producer. Malibu Rising takes us to Los Angeles during the 80s to see the crazy life of four Riva siblings: Nina, Jay, Hud, and Kit. It revolves around the secrets the family keeps, their relationships with each other and all about growing up in a complicated family.
Besides that, One True Loves is coming to the big screen this year, yet there isn’t an exact releasing date. This novel is the incredible and beautiful story of Emma, who finds herself in an unbelievable situation when her previously dead husband, Jesse, reappears four years after his alleged death. When she finally found peace again and was even engaged to somebody else, he comes back and messes up her life, making her choose between two true loves. The casting leading names are the Hamilton star Philippa Soo as Emma, the Marvel superhero Simu Liu as Sam, and Holidate‘s Luke Bracey as Jesse. Taylor Jenkins Reid herself is responsible for the screenplay; in other words, this adaptation has everything to rock our world and bring many tears to our eyes!
TJR’s books helped a lot of us through hard moments, a pandemic and quarantine, for instance, now is our turn to finally see the stories that walked with us come to life. With so many productions in delivery and skilled professionals, I’m cheerful that we are finally going to have these precious characters even closer to us! If Reid’s novels never disappoint, I’m really confident that the adaptations are going to go to the same direction.
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The article above was edited by Milena Casaca.
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