Wendelin Van Draanen’s Flipped is a book very near and dear to our hearts here at c,vt. What is at first glance an unassuming young-adult novel about a he-said she-said life-long love affair between eighth graders Bryce Loski and Julianna Baker actually turns into a beautiful coming-of-age story filled with rich themes and layered characters. It’s a book that anyone can enjoy, and one we did immensely at our humble little blog.

In fact, we enjoyed it so much that some of us even endeavored to concoct a half-baked plan on securing the film rights from Van Draanen and turning it into a feature film. We were halfway through the first draft and only a week away from launching our big plan when, without warning, the trades announced that the rights had been scooped up, Nora Ephron was attached to write the screenplay, and that Steven Spielberg was set to exec produce. Geez, that crushed us. We spent the next couple of years anxiously checking up on the status of the project, partly curious to see how it was going to turn out, partly hoping like hell it would go into turnaround.

Well, fast forward to a few months ago when Rob Reiner came on to direct (who ended up writing the screenplay with Andy Scheinman) and supporting cast members started to be announced. The last glimmer of hope eventually faded and now, the trade reports that our two leads have been cast. Though I’m still convinced our half-finished screenplay knocked those first 30 pages out of the park, alas, Flipped is moving on without us.

Aidan Quinn, Penelope Ann Miller, John Mahoney, Anthony Edwards, Rebecca De Mornay and Kevin Weisman were cast earlier as the adult family members of the two kids. Quinn and Ann Miller are playing the Bakers, Edwards and De Mornay are the Loskis, with Mahoney playing Grandpa Loski, and Weisman playing Juli’s Uncle David. Juli will be played by Madeline Carroll (she was the creepy personification of the computer White Queen in Resident Evil: Exctinction, and also Kevin Costner’s daughter in Swing Vote), and Bryce will be played by Australian actor Callan McAuliffe in his American debut.

I’m not sure how Flipped will fare in the sometimes-saccharine hands of Reiner, but I’m pulling hard for it. Production is slated to begin in June in Michigan, and (fingers crossed) hopefully they’ll be able to capture even just some part of the magic that the novel has brought into our lives. The book deserves a great translation to film.

We’ll let you know how this one develops.

Tags: Aidan Quinn, Andy Scheinman, Anthony Edwards, Callan McAuliffe, Flipped, John Mahoney, Kevin Weisman, Madeline Carroll, Penelope Ann Miller, Rebecca De Mornay, Rob Reiner, Wendelin Van Draanen