‘What They Had’ Helmer Elizabeth Chomko To Direct ‘Nobody Will Tell You This But Me’ Adaptation For ‘Bad Hair’ Producer

Amanda N'Duka
·2 min read

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Sight Unseen Pictures, the production company behind Justin Simien’s Sundance thriller, Bad Hair, has nabbed the film rights to Bess Kalb’s memoir, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me. Elizabeth Chomko, who made her directorial debut with What They Had, starring Hilary Swank and Michael Shannon, will direct the feature adaptation.

Kalb, an Emmy-nominated and Writers Guild award-winning writer for Jimmy Kimmel Live!, will pen the screenplay. Kalb has also written for the Oscars and Emmys and is a regular contributor to The New Yorker’s Daily Shouts.

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The novel, published by Knopf on March 17, centers on Kalb’s relationship with her grandmother Bobby Bell. Kalb saved every voicemail her grandmother ever left her. Bobby was a force–irrepressible, glamorous, unapologetically opinionated. Bobby doted on Bess; Bess adored Bobby. Then, at ninety, Bobby died. But in this debut memoir, Bobby is speaking to Bess once more, in a voice as passionate as it ever was in life. With humor and poignancy, Bess Kalb gives us proof of the special bond that can skip a generation and endure beyond death.

Sight Unseen’s Eddie Vaisman, Julia Lebedev, and Oren Moverman will produce with Chomko and Justin Grey Stone for Entertainment 360, who brought her the source material. Kalb will serve as executive producer alongside Rachel Jacobs on behalf of Sight Unseen.

Chomko, who earned the Nicholl Fellowship in 2015 for What They Had, is repped by WME, Management 360 and attorney Jeff Bernstein. Kalb is also with WME as well as attorney Darren Trattner.

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