It’s a truth universally acknowledged that Christina Lauren’s delightful rom-com novel Roomies would make a perfect movie. I mean, come on: A modern-day marriage of convenience between two beautiful, witty people destined to fall in love against the backdrop of a Broadway musical in New York City? Hollywood was bound to sit up and take notice—AND THEY DID: In May 2018, news broke that a film adaptation of the bestselling novel is officially in the works!
Keep reading
for a roundup of everything we know about the Roomies movie so far and check back here for more updates as we get
them. (And if you haven’t already read Roomies but swooned over movies like
To
All the Boys I’ve Loved Before—which is itself based on a fab book—and
Set It Up, you simply must pick up a
copy, because you will ADORE it. Then come back and obsess over every tidbit of
movie news with us!)
Here’s the scoop:
Jenna
Dewan’s company Everheart Productions is producing the Roomies film!
As a longtime lover of both @ChristinaLauren & rom coms, I’m especially excited to bring their book #Roomies to life with this super fun team! @jennadewan @andyfickman @OopsDoughnuts pic.twitter.com/HbYxo1xeIJ
— Betsy Sullenger (@betsysullenger) May 4, 2018
Dare we hope Jenna Dewan will also play a starring role as heroine Holland Bakker? Her dynamite Step Up and Lip Sync Battle performances leave little doubt that she’d absolutely crush the part and steal our hearts.
Christina
Lauren are writing the script!
This may be the best news yet, because no one could bring these characters to life quite like their creators, Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, the writing duo known as Christina Lauren. For more insight into how Dewan discovered Roomies and their experience writing the script, read this Hypable Q&A with Christina and Lauren.
Calvin McLoughlin –> Mateo Perez
In the movie, Holland’s hero will no longer be Irishman Calvin McLoughlin. Instead, Christina and Lauren have reimagined the character as a Latino immigrant named Mateo Perez. About the change, Lauren Billings told Entertainment Weekly: “Christina and I and all of the producers felt like the issue of immigration is one we needed to be facing head-on with this story, and we had an opportunity and responsibility to do that.” Christina added that “It was the way [the story] needed to be told.” For more, read the whole EW article.
Andy
Fickman is set to direct…
Director Andy
Fickman has helmed the TV show Kevin Can
Wait, as well as movies
like Parental Guidance, and—most relevant to our interests—the
underappreciated, Shakespeare-inspired romantic comedy She’s the Man! Yes, the very same movie that introduced us to a
handsome young Channing Tatum.
It doesn’t
hurt that Fickman’s also a bona fide theater director who will know exactly how
to bring the book’s Broadway scenes to life.
We’re
standing by for casting news.
As much as we like fantasy-casting the characters, we’re pretty
sure the reality will be EVEN BETTER, so we can’t wait for these reveals.
There’s
no release date yet.
But we swear we’ll update this article as soon as it’s announced.
This post was originally published on GetLiterary.com.