Natalie Portman is to direct and star as twins in a new movie.
The ‘Black Swan’ actress has closed a deal to play rival advice columnists and twin sisters Esther and Pauline Friedman in the biopic.
The movie will follow the story of the bitter rivalry between the sisters, who were born in 1918. In 1956, the San Francisco Chronicle launched the Dear Abby column, whilst just a year previously, her sister was asked to take on the ‘Ask Ann Landers’ advice column in the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper.
The script has been penned by Katie Robbins whilst Peter Saraf and Dani Melia of Big Beach Films will produce, Deadline reports.
Last month, it was reported that Natalie is in talks to direct and star the new biopic about the twin sisters Esther and Pauline – who were nicknamed Eppie and Popo. They were very close as they grew up, and went on to work together at Morningside College’s school newspaper even shared a joint marriage ceremony on their 21st birthday.
However, their relationship soured when Esther accepted a position as the Ann Landers advice columnist, leading Pauline to start her own column entitled Dear Abby – written under the pen name Abigail Van Buren. That column was syndicated to over 1,200 newspapers and sparked a feud between the two siblings which lasted decades. After Esther died in 2002, their daughters kept the feud going.
Natalie Portman to direct and star in twin movie
