Although he’s proved he’s got the talent to back it up, there’s little doubt Tate Taylor is more than a little lucky. He was a childhood friend of Kathryn Stockett, and therefore managed to cheaply nab the film rights to her book, The Help, long before it was released and became a massive hit.
Even then he might have found it difficult to get anyone to agree to fund the movie with him directing, as he didn’t have a huge amount of experience, but he managed to get support from Chris Columbus, who he knew due to the fact his niece and nephew go to the same school as the Harry Potter director’s kids. It’s all a bit jammy!
However he proved his mettle with The Help, which is shaping up to be a significant hit, and that’s allowed him to plot his follow-up, with THR reporting that he’s in talks to helm an adaptation of Leif Enger’s book, Peace Like A River, for Dreamworks (who backed The Help) and Warner Bros. Brad Pitt and his Plan B outfit are also involved in a production capacity.
‘The 2002 novel is narrated by an asthmatic 11-year-old named Reuben Land, who lives with his eccentric family in 1962 Minnesota. When two young troublemakers break into the family home, Reubens 16-year-old brother guns them down and is convicted in the ensuing trial. When the brother escapes, Reuben, his sister and his widowed father criss-cross the Midwest to find him.’
It would be another 60s set tale for Taylor, and it’s possible that he may want to direct something else (and probably a little different) first, as he’s said to be sifting through numerous possibilities for his next movie at the moment.