Kerry Washington to star in, produce film adapation of ‘Rockaway’

The actress is set to star and produce in the adaptation based on the popular memoir from Diane Cardwell

Kerry Washington fans take note: the actress is set to star in and produce a film adaptation of Rockaway, former New York Times writer and editor Diane Cardwell‘s bestselling memoir.

Since her hit series Scandal ended in 2018, Washington has enjoyed a number of juicy roles on television, from her Emmy-nominated stint in Little Fires Everywhere on Hulu to her roles in Netflix’s American Son and The Prom.

Now, she’s heading back to the streamer for what looks like another success.

2020 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Radhika Jones - Arrivals
Kerry Washington attends the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar Party on Feb. 9, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

The film’s official description from the press release, reads, “On a routine assignment, a Manhattan journalist unexpectedly discovers the transcendent power of surfing, and finds herself running from the comfortable life she’s always known towards a life of romance and self-discovery in eclectic Rockaway Beach.”

Rockaway was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and was named by Outside Magazine as one of the Best Adventure Travel Books of the Year.

(Houghton Mifflin)

The screenplay for the film adaptation will be written by NAACP Image Award winner Nichelle Tramble Spellman (Truth Be Told). The film will be produced by Liza Chasin’s 3dot Productions, Kerry Washington’s Simpson Street, and Aevitas Entertainment, with Cardwell herself set as executive producer.

Kerry Washington thegrio.com
Kerry Washington speaks onstage during the 2020 13th Annual ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon at Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel on February 06, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Randy Shropshire/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

Washington will also lead the upcoming Netflix film The School For Good And Evil, an adaptation of a young adult novel. Charlize Theron will co-star and the project will be directed by Paul Feig.

Per Deadline, “The plot of the bestselling six-book series centers on best friends Sophie and Agatha, who discover where fairytale legacies go to school: the School for Good and Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains.

With her princess ambitions, Sophie knows she’ll be picked for the School for Good and join the ranks of past students like Cinderella and Snow White. Meanwhile, Agatha, with her grim aesthetic and wicked cat, seems a natural fit for the villains in the School for Evil. Yet soon the girls find their fortunes reversed; what if the mistake is the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are?”

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