Like No Other, the 2014 YA novel by Una LaMarche, is heading to the big screen. The adaptation will be directed and co-written by filmmaker Debra Granik, who is best known for directing Winter’s Bone, the film that earned Jennifer Lawrence her first Academy Award nomination, and Leave No Trace, which is based on Peter Rock’s book My Abandonment.
According to Deadline, Granik was the one who originally optioned the book for film along with Anne Rosellini of Still Rolling Productions and Alix Madigan of Mad Dog Film. Granik and Rosellini will write the script with Madigan and Rosellini serving as producers.
Regarded as a contemporary take on West Side Story, LaMarche’s novel “watches as the unlikely paths of a Hasidic girl and a secular boy meet on Eastern Parkway and blossom into a forbidden romance.”
In a joint statement, Granik, Madigan, and Rosellini said, “We were pulled in immediately by the strength and complexity of young Devorah and the journey she takes to find her path in life. The world Una creates is one we want to live in – where unexpected friendships are made and rigidity gives way to allowing for love and for the acceptance of the ‘other’.”
FEATURED IMAGEs VIA Chicago Tribune and Goodreads