Lately #9: Dark Matter, Miranda's return and a summer recipe

Five things to entertain you, and one piece of advice.

On Sundays, we share some of our favourite finds from the week in our Lately newsletter.

I’m back from London, and Gillian is on a plane to Scotland as I write. We’ve been leaning heavily on voice notes (better characterised as our personal podcasts to each other) to stay connected. Hopefully she’ll get a chance to read this before I send it, otherwise I apologise in advance for any misplaced dashes, I overdo them without her reining me in.

Hope the summer is being good to you, Yara

1. Something we should all be watching…

If you have ever wondered about the path not taken then Dark Matter, Blake Crouch’s nine-part adaptation of his own book by the same name, is a series for you. It turns out if you are a physics genius - like lead character Jason Dessen - then you can create a way of hopping around the universe to hijack the life (and wife) you regret not choosing from another you. But naturally when you mess with the multiverse, it messes back.

The book was such a blockbuster that it’s strange that it hasn’t made it to our screens sooner (it was optioned as a film in 2014). It turns out that format matters:

“It kind of spun around in film development until 2019. So for about five years, drafts of feature adaptations were written. I wrote one, a couple other guys came in and did passes, but we could really never get the script beyond a B… Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, who now run Apple were telling us, ‘guys, it’s a TV show.’ I immediately started thinking about what that adaptation might look like, and it just kind of all fell together.”

That being said, there are a few episodes that slowed things down, but the premise is one that I have not been able to stop thinking about. What if?

2. A podcast you’ll want to share…

I find scam artists fascinating. I think it’s their delusional boldness in the face of rising stakes that reels me in. If you loved Sweet Bobby, or Bad Blood (the Elizabeth Holmes story), prepare for Scamanda to be your new obsession.

It follows the story of Amanda, a wife, mother and blogger who captivates her followers through documenting her cancer journey - until someone starts looking into her story. It’s a truly unbelievable and bizarre tale. I cannot count the number of wtfs I whispered to myself as I listened.

3. A memorable backstory read…

Get ready for a new wave of quotable lines - Meryl has confirmed! In an Instagram post this week Streep announced that ‘Miranda will return’. A sequel to The Devil Wears Prada is in the works and unlike florals for spring, it IS groundbreaking.

Building enthusiasm around a sequel of course depends heavily on how many of its cast members return (for me Tucci, for Gillian Blunt) but the magic of a sequel may more importantly hinge on whether its original screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna is on board.

This interview with McKenna by fashion and culture journalist Amy Odell opened my eyes to what a fine balancing act she had to achieve in translating the original book to the screen. There are lots of insights into her creative approach, in particular about how she handled the sensitivities of depicting the fashion world.

How did you work around the fear that fashion people had about Anna (Wintour)?

I would say, it’s not Anna, it’s Miranda Priestly. I wanted the movie to be for people who didn’t know any inside baseball. When you write about a workplace, you want it to feel really resonant and true to people who are in that workplace. But you also want it to feel really accessible, and make sense to people who’ve never been there. This story was very much about how everyone has had a difficult boss.

Amy Odell is also the author of Anna: The Biography - which has been sitting on my shelf for far too long. Perhaps the time is now.

4. Something that we’re making…

You know all those recipes that you’ve saved but never seem to make? My summer resolution is to change that. I have family coming over this weekend and so I’ve pulled out Athena Calderone’s Raspberry Lime-Thyme Crostata recipe. She promises it’s fail-proof (let’s see!).

Find it here (along with her video tutorial). Let me know if you follow in my summer entertaining footsteps!

5. Something to make you laugh…

I’m trying to come to terms with the fact that keeping indoor plants alive and thriving is beyond me. The struggle is real friends, and writer and illustrator Ricardo Scarpa’s animation made me feel seen. If you’re part of the black-thumb tribe click through and watch - he knows our pain!

ricardoscarpa.two

A post shared by @ricardoscarpa.two

And if you’re a self-satisfied green-thumbed magician, his animations on other topics might resonate more - like this one about growing up in the 80s.

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One piece of advice:

I love this unexpected perspective from Francis Ford Coppola on artistic theft:

“We want you to take from us. We want you, at first, to steal from us, because you can’t steal. You will take what we give you and you will put it in your own voice and that’s how you will find your voice. And that’s how you begin. And then one day someone will steal from you.”