Author Jennifer Weiner’s latest novel, “The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits,” about 2000s-era Jewish rock stars, is getting a big screen adaptation from none other than Amy Sherman-Palladino, who will be writing and directing the film for Universal Pictures.
“I am thrilled and delighted and completely over the moon to share that the one and only Amy Sherman-Palladino, of ‘Gilmore Girls’ and ‘Mrs. Maisel’ fame will be bringing the Griffin Sisters to the big screen,” Weiner shared on her Instagram.
Weiner recounted that the two had a sit down in Brooklyn last spring after Sherman-Palladino found the Weiner novel in her Hamptons bookstore.
“I was so impressed by how completely Amy got the story – the tone, the characters, the complicated sister stuff, the messy mother-daughter stuff, the humor, and the music,” she recalled on social media.
Stacey Sher will produce the feature with Weiner in the executive producer seat, according to Deadline. Sher is a two-time Academy Award nominee who has worked on “Django Unchained” and “Erin Brockovich.”
The book tells the story of two Jewish sisters who rose to fame in the early 2000s, only to live in obscurity decades later. Cassie and Zoe Grossberg were told to de-Jew-ify their names and became the Griffin Sisters. Zoe loved the limelight and wanted fame, while plus-sized Cassie was more of an introvert, but was born with an incredible musical talent.
They go on to create some of the biggest hits of the early 2000s, but their fame is short-lived — the band breaks up under mysterious circumstances.
Decades later, Cassie now lives in obscurity in Alaska, while Zoe raises her teen daughter, Cherry, in suburban New Jersey. Cherry, like her mother, caught the music-and-fame bug and hopes to uncover what exactly happened to the Griffin Sisters.
The movie feels incredibly timely, as we both interrogate the toxic celebrity culture of the early 2000s, from Britney Spears to “America’s Next Top Model,” and as the rise of GLP-1 medications brings back the skinny obsession of that same time. The music of the late ’90s and early 2000s is also a huge part of the current zeitgeist, with trending TikTok sounds from the Goo Goo Dolls and Imogen Heap, and plenty of Backstreet Boys at the Sphere footage.
The fact that the movie will also center a Jewish family gives us even more to look forward to.
“The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits” isn’t the first screen adaptation of Weiner’s bestselling (and very Jewish!) work. Her 2002 “In Her Shoes” became what is arguably one of the best rom-coms of the early 2000s, featuring Toni Collette and a very swoon-worthy (and also very Jewish!) Mark Feuerstein. With Sherman-Palladino, this film has the potential to be just as big, if not a bigger hit.
Now we just have to wait for a cast for this exciting new project. Weiner already has a fierce Jewish lady (and hamantaschen maven) in mind for one of the roles: Alex Borstein, aka Susie Myerson in “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”
Truly, there’s nothing we’d love more than a Sherman-Palladino-Alex-Borstein reunion.
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