From THR – The Blume family is bringing Tiger Eyes to the big screen, making it the first Judy Blume novel to be made into a feature. From a screenplay written by Judy Blume and her son, Lawrence Blume, the movie will be directed by Lawrence Blume and produced via the Blumes’ prodiction company, Tashmoo Prods in partnership with Amber Entertainment. Willa Holland (Gossip Girl) and newcomer Tatanka Means have been cast as the leads. The production, budgeted at less than $5 million, will look for a U.S. distributor when done shooting.
Written in 1981, Tiger Eyes tells of a teenage girl whose family is forced to move in with relatives in New Mexico after her father is killed in a convenience story robbery. She meets an American Indian teen named Wolf, whose father is a terminally ill patient in the hospital at which the girl volunteers. Together they help overcome her fear and grief.
Judy says of the book:
Although there’s a violent crime at the center of the story, Tiger Eyes isn’t about violence. It’s about the sudden, tragic loss of someone you love. I lost my beloved father suddenly, when I was 21. He died, not as the result of a violent crime, but of a heart attack at home. I was with him. I still can’t write this without choking up, remembering. Davey’s feelings about her father’s sudden death were based on mine, though I’m not sure I was aware of it while I was writing the book.
I lived in Los Alamos, New Mexico, the setting of the book, for two years. My teenaged children went to school there. It wasn’t a happy experience but it helped me write what George (my husband) and Larry (my grown son) think is my best book. It allowed me to write about a world I would never have known, about characters I’d never have imagined. Yet I didn’t start to write this book until I’d left the town (and the relationship that took me there) and was able to look back.
Book Jacket:
Davey has never felt so alone in her life. Her father is dead—shot in a holdup—and now her mother is moving the family to New Mexico to try to recover.
Climbing in the Los Alamos canyon, Davey meets the mysterious Wolf, who can read Davey’s “sad eyes.” Wolf is the only person who seems to understand the rage and fear Davey feels.
Slowly, with Wolf’s help, Davey realizes that she must get on with her life. But when will she be ready to leave the past behind and move toward the future? Will she ever stop hurting?
You can read an excerpt here.
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