Glenn Close will star in a film adaptation of Tove Jansson’s novel The Summer Book, Deadline reports.
Jansson’s book, published in the U.S. in 1975 by Pantheon, is a series of vignettes about a young girl and her ailing grandmother spending a summer in an island in Scandinavia. A critic for Kirkus wrote of the book, “Spindrift perceptions, fresh and penetrating.”
Close will star in the movie alongside Anders Danielsen Lie, the Norwegian actor known for his roles in Reprise and The Worst Person in the World. The film was adapted by Robert Jones and will be produced and directed by Charlie McDowell (The Discovery, Windfall).
Sophia Jansson, Tove Jansson’s niece, told Deadline, “The Summer Book is dear to many readers around the world. It is my favourite of Tove Jansson’s books, and it holds a very special place in my heart…. Seeing that story finally come alive on the big screen will be fantastic and moving on a deeply personal level.”
McDowell announced the film on Instagram, writing, “Finally able to share the news of my next film, an adaptation of one of my favorite books, Tove Jansson’s ‘The Summer Book.’ We start principal photography this summer in Finland and I have the honor of working with two incredibly dynamic and special actors, @glennclose and @andersdanielsenlieofficial. I’ve been putting this film together for a couple years and I’m very excited to tell this beloved Finnish story and work with such talented people.”
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
