Ah, 2006: A simpler, more truth-sensitive time—outside all the government-manipulated foreign wars, anyway—when the American people were still capable of getting up in arms because a memoirist had the temerity to lie to Oprah. It’s hard to imagine now, in our current post-truth world, but once upon a time, James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces was the scandal of the year, when journalists discovered that many of the details of Frey’s bestselling addiction “memoir” had been fabricated. The ensuing public shaming—led by Oprah herself, clearly pissed at being “duped”—scuppered plans for a film version of the book before they could ever really get off the ground.
But that was then, and this is the ever more fake news-filled now: According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film version of A Million Little Pieces is now being revived, produced by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Sam Taylor-Johnson. The new version will star the former—whose previous credits include Avengers: Age Of Ultron and the lead role in the Kick-Ass films—as Frey. (Meanwhile, just to make it clear how long it’s been since Frey’s book was seen as a viable film project, it’s worth noting that the last husband-wife team attached to this particular movie was Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt.)