Emma Watson Reteams with Stephen Chbosky for 'While We're Young'

A look back at last year's best films ruined by piss-poor marketing will find Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower right at the top. A terrific high school drama that actually understood what those tough formative years were like, for some odd reason it rolled out in a confusing limited fashion and never really expanded despite glowing reviews and hot young cast. And leading the great talent in front of the camera was Emma Watson, in perhaps her most mature and confident performance to date, and now she's looking to replicate it by teaming up with Chbosky one more time.

Watson will star in an adaptation of Adena Halpern's novel, 29, now retitled While We're Young (not to be confused with the Noah Baumbach film). Chbosky will direct, and the script comes from (500) Days of Summer and The Spectacular Now writers Michael H. Weber and Scott Neustadter. The material fits comfortably in the writers' wheelhouse, following carefree 75-year old Ellie Jerome who gets her wish to be 29 again. She uses this special gift to spend time with her granddaughter, learning in the process that being young comes with its share of problems.

It sounds a bit like Freaky Friday, but there's every reason to believe the people involved will be able to give it some added depth. Check out the full synopsis below: [Deadline]

Ellie Jerome is a young-at-heart seventy-five-year-old who feels she has more in common with her twenty-nine-year-old granddaughter, Lucy, than her fifty-five-year-old daughter, Barbara. Ellie’s done everything she can to stay young, and the last thing she wants is to celebrate another birthday. So when she finds herself confronted with a cake full of candles, Ellie wishes more than anything that she could be twenty-nine again, just for one day. But who expects a wish like that to come true? 

29 is the story of three generations of women and how one magical day shakes up everything they know about each other. While Ellie finds that the life of a twenty-something is not as carefree as she expected, the sheer joy of being young again prompts her to consider living her life all over. Does she dare stay young for more than this day, even if it means leaving everyone she loves behind?

Fresh, funny, and delightful, 29 is an enchanting adventure about families, love, and the real lessons of youth.