Phil Lord and Chris Miller may Direct 'The Rosie Project' from 'The Fault in Our Stars' Writers

 The directing duo of Phil Lord and Chris Miller pretty much have their run of any project they want. That's what happens when every film you've done, whether it's The Lego Movie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, or 21 Jump Street, has proven to be a hit. The same can pretty much be said for the writing tandem of Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, who penned The Spectacular Now, (500) Days of Summer, and The Fault in Our Stars. Now these talented pairs may finally have a chance to work together on an adaptation of Graeme Simsion's breakout novel, The Rosie Project.

Deadline reports Lord and Miller are eying the film, which Weber and Neustadter will adapt. The story centers on Don Tillman, a socially inept genetics professor who comes up with the Wife Project, an evidence-based survey system to help find his perfect mate.  When he meets Rosie, who has all of the qualities he specifically tried to exclude, he comes to discover she may end up being just what he needs.

A novel that's a global phenomenon match with directors and screenwriters who seemingly can't go wrong. If all comes together expect The Rosie Project to be huge.

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'The Fault in Our Stars' Team Reunites for John Green's 'Paper Towns'

John Green is about to be Hollywood's next favorite author, with Fox 2000's adaptation of The Fault in Our Stars due this summer. Hitching on to Green's meteoric rise, the studio is now looking to bring another of Green's novels to the big screen, and reuniting much of the 'Stars' team to do it.

Fox 2000 has picked up the rights to Green's book, Paper Towns, setting screenwriters Michael H. Weber and Scott Neustadter to pen the screenplay. The duo has been red hot, especially when it comes to teen romances, previously writing (500) Days of Summer, The Spectacular Now, and the aforementioned 'Stars'. Nat Wolff, who also has a co-starring role in the cancer drama, will take the lead in Paper Towns, an off-beat story of mystery and revenge. Here's the book's synopsis:

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life–dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge–he follows.

After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues–and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees of the girl he thought he knew.

No word on a director just yet, but is there any reason why 'Stars' director Josh Boone won't get the call?  [Deadline]

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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.

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Interview: 'The Spectacular Now' Screenwriters Michael Weber & Scott Neustadter

Those who have been following the site for awhile know that I've been talking up The Spectacular Now for months. Catching the premiere at Sundance earlier this year, it was instantly clear to me that I had just witnessed a truly special film, the type that a lot of people are going to fall in love with, just as I had fallen in love with it. Based on the novel by Tim Tharp and starring Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller, it's a teen romance free from cynicism and the artificiality that has plagued the genre for so long. In that way, it felt like a welcome callback to the great works of John Hughes.

Two of the men responsible for the heights The Spectacular Now achieves are screenwriters Michael H. Weber and Scott Neustadter, who also wrote my top film of 2009, (500) Days of Summer. So I was ecstatic to have a chance to talk to them both about their careers, their fondness for John Hughes movies, and why they love working with Woodley so much. Check out that interview below...

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