Julia Roberts is making her way to smaller screens staring her first TV series based on the best-selling Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple which was released this fall. Julia Roberts will produce the series as well through her Red Om Films banner with Semple, Megan Ellison's Annapurna Television and HBO Executive Sue Naegle.
Today Will Be Different was the New York Times 'Notable Book of 2016' and it follows a day in the life of Eleanor Flood as she decides to have her best day ever. Of course, her hope for a perfect afternoon goes down in flames as a series of strange events unfold around her. Semple herself is writing the adaptation to the television series.
The writer was featured on The Hollywood Reporter's 'Most Powerful Authors in Hollywood' list and is currently working on the film adaptation of her 2012 book Where'd You Go Bernadette. Richard Linklater is attached to direct and Cate Blanchett is attached to star in the film, which Color Force is also producing. She includes in her CV as a writer and producer, TV series as Suddenly Susan and Arrested Development.
Today Will Be Different is a return to television for Roberts, who most recently starred in Ryan Murphy's 2014 HBO film The Normal Heart. Before that, she showed up on Murphy Brown in 1998, and made a Law & Order appearance in 1999.
Roberts is among a list of well-known names that jumped over to television. Meryl Streep is starring in a Warner Bros. Television series, The Nix, from J.J. Abrams; Julianne Moore and Robert De Niro are starring in a pricey Amazon series; and Jonah Hill and Emma Stone are starring in Netflix’s Maniac.