She won an Oscar for The Reader and then promptly disappeared from our screens for ages while she made the TV mini-series Mildred Pierce (which starts airing imminently), but now Kate Winslet has a new movie up her sleeves and she’ll be joined by Josh Brolin. According to EW, they’ve both signed up for Jason Reitman’s new flick, Labor Day.
The project is based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Joyce Maynard, which is about an escaped convict and murderer who hides out with a single mother and her young son. Kate Winslet will play the mother while Josh Brolin is set to portray the murderer.
Here’s the official description of the novel: ‘With the end of summer closing in and a steamy Labor Day weekend looming in the town of Holton Mills, New Hampshire, thirteen-year-old Henry – lonely, friendless, not too good at sports-spends most of his time watching television, reading, and daydreaming about the soft skin and budding bodies of his female classmates. For company Henry has his long-divorced mother, Adele – a onetime dancer whose summer project was to teach him how to foxtrot; his hamster, Joe; and awkward Saturday-night outings to Friendly’s with his estranged father and new stepfamily. As much as he tries, Henry knows that even with his jokes and his “Husband for a Day” coupon, he still can’t make his emotionally fragile mother happy. Adele has a secret that makes it hard for her to leave their house, and seems to possess an irreparably broken heart.
‘But all that changes on the Thursday before Labor Day, when a mysterious bleeding man named Frank approaches Henry and asks for a hand. Over the next five days, Henry will learn some of life’s most valuable lessons: how to throw a baseball, the secret to perfect piecrust, the breathless pain of jealousy, the power of betrayal, and the importance of putting others-especially those we love-above ourselves. And the knowledge that real love is worth waiting for.’
As well as directing, Reitman wrote the screenplay for Labor Day, which will start shooting sometime next year in New England. However is you think that’s too long to wait for a film form the helmer of Juno and Up In The Air, don’t worry, as he’s already wrapped the Diablo Cody scripted Young Adult, which is due out later this year.