Scott Rudin Taunts Lena Dunham with ‘Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares’

Recent Gotham award nominated Lena Dunham has had a stellar 2010. 2011 is already looking to “surpass” the current year. Scott Rudin, who has his hand in developing huge projects with a certain auteur verve, demonstrates once again he remains committed to the next gen of indie filmmakers, lassoing the filmmaker/actress for the book to film adaptation. Currently working on Judd Apatow produced Comedy Pilot for HBO series, while getting ready for the last round of press for Tiny Furniture [11.12], Dunham would perhaps take on David Levithan and Rachel Cohn’s Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares for sometime late in 2011. The tale about a young adult romance that takes place in Manhattan’s nooks and crannies would be penned and directed by Dunham with Rudin likely to take this to market prior to filming.

Gist: Deadline.com’s Mike Fleming resumes the book synopsis as this: two teens, left alone in Manhattan for Christmas, develop a connection when she leaves a notebook full of literary clues at the Strand bookstore and he follows the clues and leaves some of his own. There are dares in the book that lead the characters to crowded places like Macys and FAO Schwartz. Along the way, they reveal information about themselves, leading to an inevitable meeting. Hopefully Cera isn’t on the shortlist for the romantic amateur sleuth.

Worth Noting: Authors Rachel Cohn and David Levithan wrote Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist. Perhaps good in book form – execution in film form was terrible. Here’s a reminder of how young people get lost in the city.

Why Do We Care?: We’re curious about how Dunham will translate someone else’s material and how much of the helmer’s “personality” will be embedded in this project. Message boards on Deadline are pretty nasty with Dunham’s chosen style for Tiny Furniture – the narcissism or possible anxieties displayed in the film are no less authentic than those living a few blocks south from the reality of where this artist resides. I’d certainly take 5 minutes of TF over the entire Bridget Jones’ set.