Gabriele Muccino and WHAT I KNOW ABOUT LOVE
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS director to explore deep wounds after a family's complete breakdown.
Gabriele Muccino made a terrific 2006 drama straight out of a 70's Robert Benton picture with The Pursuit of Happyness (most explicitly with the feeling of Kramer vs. Kramer) which was easily one of my favourite pics of that year and today I'm hardly surprised by the news of a potential directing vehicle for the Italian director. The Hollywood Reporter say Muccino will direct What I Know About Love, described ironically as a Kramer vs. Kramer esque divorce movie, depicting the complete breakdown of a marriage and a family torn apart. Although the trades don't actually say it, I'm guessing the movie might be from the father's point of view who must now look after his son as a single parent, something we saw with Will & Jaden Smith in his last movie...
Muccino will write the script with Liz Tuccilo, the author whose novel He's Just Not That Into You is currently being adapted for film of which the trailer was released some months ago.
The project could yet end up with Smith's Overbrook Entertainment and could well be the third quick collaboration between Smith and Muccino, as the actor finished filming earlier this year on the drama Seven Pounds which will be both men's next film when it's released in December. Hopefully we should see a trailer for that movie soon and after the performance Muccino got out of Smith for The Pursuit of Happyness, I could see these two guys working and challenging each other for years to come."It's the story of a family's collapse, but with the complexity that relationships have today," Muccino said. "It's a different world now, one that I think is more open and more destructive somehow."