Some interesting news coming out of Hollywood today; mostly interesting because they don’t quite fit the profile of the star involved.
Cate Blanchett, the four time nominated and one time Oscar winner is working on bringing a film adaptation of the book “Cancer Vixen: A True Story” to the big screen. From the title, you may be able to discern what the story is about but unless you’ve read it, you’re likely to miss the boat on the details. Marisa Acocella Marchetto’s graphic novel is a humorous look at how she fought breast cancer – without insurance. Here’s the blurb from Amazon which perfectly captures the story and Marchetto’s biting style:
In 2004, cartoonist Marchetto, a hyperstylish “terminal bachelorette,” was busy capturing “fabulista” humor, in the New Yorker and Glamour. She was engaged to a fabulous guy, perennially cool restaurateur Silvano Marchetto, whose personal style perfectly matched her Manhattan-centric life. If this were fiction, this is exactly when she’d stumble; unfortunately for her, life imitated art, and sure enough, she found a lump in her breast shortly before her wedding. Just as bad, she didn’t have health insurance: her policy had lapsed shortly before the fateful mammogram. Cancer Vixen tells the story of what happens next, and how her inner circle— stylists, gossip columnists, shoe designers and assorted others you’d only find in New York City, rallies round to help her beat the disease and get married on time and in high style. Marchetto wears her best high heels to chemotherapy and remarks on the similarities between her hospital gown and Diane von Furstenberg designs. The fashion details are great fun, drawn in a spare loose style, but it’s the heart of her story, the support and love she gets from her family and friends, that make Cancer Vixen a universal story that’s hard to put down.
Blanchett hopes to star in the film adaptation of the book and I can’t wait to see how this plays out. Blanchett as a New Yorker, fighting off cancer while being funny, irreverent and completely fashion savvy? Count me in!
