New York Magazine's pop culture blog, Vulture, reported Thursday about Rebecca Serle, a debut novelist who might see the film adaptation of her book out before the book itself. Serle is a 26-year-old New School MFA grad and her update on Rome and Juliet, called When You Were Mine, is delivered from the vantage point of Rosaline. (In the Bard's play Rosaline, the girl Romeo is initially in love with before setting sights on Juliet, is mentioned but is not seen or heard from.) S&S acquired the novel last fall and film rights were snatched up the following month.
Though it's uncertain whether a film adaptation could beat the book to stores by May, when it's scheduled to publish, Vulture says it's on a fast track. Tentatively called Rosaline the film, at Fox 2000, has 500 Days of Summer screenwriters Scott Neustader and Michael H. Weber attached to adapt it, Michael Sucsy (HBO's Grey Gardens) attached to direct, with rumors swirling that Keira Knightley is being tapped to star.
