Hollywood has been trying to adapt Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections since the book was first published more than 20 years ago. Now, CBS Studios is giving it a shot, and with some big star-power attached. According to reporting in Indiewire, Meryl Streep will star in an adaptation of the 2001 novel, which Franzen himself is adapting for television. The show does not yet have a network or streamer attached, but with Streep in a central role, it likely will soon.
The Corrections tells the story of three generations of a dysfunctional family from the middle of the century up through one final Christmas that they are all trying to spend together. The novel’s depiction of the strife and conflict at the heart of the family has earned it plenty of praise in the years since it was released, and Hollywood has been working to adapt it ever since.
The first attempt was a feature film that never got off the ground, and Marriage Story director also tried to adapt the novel for HBO with a cast that would have included Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, Dianne Wiest, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rhys Ifans, and Greta Gerwig, among others. Baumbach got as far as actually filming part of a pilot, but that pilot was rejected, so the show never got off the ground.
Baumbach’s cast was certainly impressive, but he didn’t have any names as big as Streep. Given that star power and the fact that the author himself is adapting, it seems possible that this adaptation will actually get off the ground.
