'Garlic and Sapphires,' the movie: When? And who's playing Ruth Reichl?

Ruth Reichl was in town this week for a panel discussion hosted by Zocalo Public Square at the Skirball Cultural Center. She reminisced, answered audience questions and pondered the future of epicurean mags  along with fellow panelists and former Gourmet staffers Jonathan Gold of the LA Weekly and his wife, Laurie Ochoa, introduced as co-editor of the forthcoming quarterly Slake.

But what about Reichl's movie? As soon as moderator Evan Kleiman of KCRW's "Good Food" mentioned Reichl's memoir, "Garlic and Sapphires," someone interjected "the soon-to-be motion picture!" Soon-to-be?

Indeed, what is up with the movie? It's been written by Jeremy Leven ("My Sister's Keeper," "The Notebook"). Originally envisioned as an HBO comedy series, the project was sold as a feature to Fox years ago. A representative from the production company confirmed that "Garlic and Sapphires" is in "active development" but didn't provide any more information.

The details on IMDB are sparse but indicate a 2010 release, and according to its synopsis, the movie is about "a chef [who] tries to balance her career with writing a book, motherhood and divorce." Seems off.

But the big question is, who will play Reichl? I narrowed down my guesses, and my pick would be Catherine Keener.   

-- Betty Hallock

Photo by Aaron Salcido, from www.zocalopublicsquare.org

Comments

[JasonC]

That synopsis just sounds like they'll be weaving in some stuff from Comfort Me With Apples. She *was* a chef and she did get divorced. Just juices up the story. It definitely made more sense as a TV show though - a different "character" every week.

[Sommelier]

Jack Black in a Roseanne Roseannadanna wig would be perfect.

[jwhatev]

Haha. I'm reading this right now and this morning thought-what a great & entertaining movie it would be!