STEPHANIE ALEXANDER AND MAGGIE BEER’S TUSCAN COOKBOOK HEADED FOR THE BIG SCREEN

Australian production and distribution studio Arcadia has optioned Stephanie Alexander and Maggie Beer’s bestseller Tuscan Cookbook and Stephanie’s Journal for adaptation to the big screen.

Akin to box office hits The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Under the Tuscan Sun and Julie & Julia, the feature film will be written by Australian film and television writer Katherine Thomson (Amazon TV’s A Place To Call Home; Women He’s Undressed; StudioCanal’s Helena!). “As most women know, to have a best friend is a great blessing and if they share your passion and inspire you, then you’ve really lucked out,” says Thomson (pictured, below). “Stephanie and Maggie first shared their friendship with the world through the books, now they’re allowing me to expand on the narrative and into a movie – a big leap for them, and how fortunate am I.”

Published by Penguin, Stephanie Alexander and Maggie Beer’s Tuscan Cookbook, transports readers to the sunlit hills of Tuscany, where in 1997 they left Australia to run a cooking school in a villa outside of Siena. The Tuscan Cookbook records in detail their time in Italy, the dishes cooked, the places visited, the people who made it all happen and the guests who joined for the ride.

Arcadia has also taken the option to Stephanie's Journal, her personal account of a year which saw the opening of the Richmond Hill Cafe & Larder, the closure of the celebrated restaurant, Stephanie's, the impact of The Cook's Companion, published a year earlier and the cooking schools in Tuscany with Maggie Beer.

Said Stephanie: “It was the adventure of our lives. It deepened our friendship as we supported each other and convinced us all over again of the value of being with others who shared our enthusiasm for ripe and real flavours, in a country that daily reinforced the importance of eating well as an essential part of living well.”

Maggie added: “There are times in your life that are so wonderfully significant that you have to pinch yourself that it was even possible. Our friendship and support for each other was so incredibly special and life affirming. Re-reading Stephanie’s journal of that year brings every moment back to life in cinematic detail, so to think of it coming to the big screen is both exciting and just a bit scary too.”

The film will be produced by Lisa Shaunessy for Arcadia, a company on a run of successes that have included the Kodi Smit-McPhee sci-fi hit 2067 and the SXSW Midnighters’ opener Sissy, starring Aisha Dee. From their base in the central NSW township of Orange, they are currently in production on the sci-fi thriller In Vitro starring Succession’s Ashley Zukerman.

Arcadia parrtner and executive producer on the film, Alexandra Burke (pictured, left; credit Jude Keogh), says “As beloved icons, Maggie Beer and Stephanie Alexander have made significant contributions to Australian life, in a similar way to how Julia Child revolutionised the home kitchen in America. The story behind the Tuscan Cookbook captured my imagination many years ago and now the timing felt right.”