The Emperor's Children in Hollywood

The Emperor's Children, Claire Messud's contemporary comedy of manners set in New York City around 9/11, is making progress toward the big screen. Noah Baumbach (who directed "Greenberg") has signed on to direct the movie for Imagine Entertainment, with Ron Howard and partner Brian Grazer producing.

Also attached to the movie -- expected to begin shooting this summer -- are Keira Knightley, Eric Bana, and Richard Gere. Baumbach, the Oscar-nominated writer of The Squid and the Whale," is adapting Messud's 2006 bestselling novel about a trio of Brown University graduates with big plans and expectations who are approaching their 30s with little accomplished thus far. This novel about the gap between the real and the perceived takes wicked shots at intellectual pretension as well as pretentions of class and gender.

The Emperor's Children was one of those rare novels that I thoroughly enjoyed reading despite disliking every single character. It will be interesting to see what happens to it as a movie.