Cholodenko to Practice ‘Abstinence’

Proving that she has the knack for directing comedy, Lisa Cholodenko might have landed her next directing gig which slightly ups the ante in terms of whose feathers it will ruffle. The Tracking Board is reporting that Cholodenko would move from the spoof-friendly story of a sperm donor mixing it up with lesbian moms to the taboo turf of religion and sex with the book adaptation of Tom Perrotta’s delicious satire The Abstinence Teacher. Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris were formerly attached to direct and Steve Carell and Sandra Bullock were at some point on board to topline. Project is currently set up Warner Brothers.

Gist: Based on the 2007 novel, this revolves around a divorced sex ed teacher in middle America who is at odds with the town’s more conservative groups. At the same time, she finds herself falling for her daughter’s born-again soccer coach.

Worth Noting: Tom Perrotta’s Election and Little Children have been made into some great feature films via the likes of Alexander Payne and Todd Field.

Do We Care?: We’re big fans of the novel and how Tom Perrotta brings out the childlike qualities in all of his faulty adult characters and if The Kids Are All Right proved anything is that Cholodenko is great with ensemble casts – which happens to be the case for this project.