Right after the success of LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris were lining up an adaptation of “The Abstinence Teacher”, a novel by ELECTION writer Tom Perrotta.
Well that was four years ago, and now it seems like the project is finally getting off the ground.
Production Weekly has listed the project as in-development with SUNSHINE producers, Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa, Polly Johnsen. There are also two names attached to star– Sandra Bullock and Steve Carell. Perrotta is still listed as the attached screenwriter.
Here’s the synopsis from Production Weekly: “Stonewood Heights is the perfect place to raise kids. It’s got the proverbial good schools, solid values and a healthy real estate market. It’s the kind of place where parents are involved in their children’s lives, where no opportunity for enrichment goes unexplored. Ruth Ramsey (most likely Bullock’s role) is the human sexuality teacher at the local high school. She believes that “pleasure is good, shame is bad, and knowledge is power.” Ruth’s younger daughter’s soccer coach is Tim Mason (most likely Carell), a former stoner and rocker whose response to hitting rock bottom was to reach out and be saved. Tim belongs to The Tabernacle, an evangelical Christian church that doesn’t approve of Ruth’s style of teaching. And Ruth in turn doesn’t applaud The Tabernacle’s mission to take its message outside its doors. Adversaries in a small-town culture war, Ruth and Tim instinctively mistrust each other. But when a controversy on the soccer field pushes the two of them to actually talk to each other, they are forced to take each other at something other than face value.”
This is not the next project up for Dayton & Faris, who have been working on a film titled, WILL. The script was written by Demetri Martin, and the project has Zach Galifianakis and Paul Rudd set to star. Adam McKay and Will Ferrell will produce.
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