Author and singer-songwriter Michelle Zauner’s memoir “Crying in H Mart” is coming to the silver screen.
Zauner’s recently published book chronicles her life growing up in Oregon and takes a journey through the “Be Sweet” singer’s memories of her late mother, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
“These past few weeks I’ve been floored by the deeply personal and heartfelt responses I’ve received from Crying in H Mart,” Zauner said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. “I can’t wait to tell the coming of age story I wish I’d gotten to grow up with.”
The news follows the release last Friday of the “Jubilee” album by Japanese Breakfast, Zauner’s solo musical act. Japanese Breakfast will provide the film’s soundtrack.
MGM’s Orion Pictures obtained the rights to the adaptation, with Stacey Sher and Korean-born filmmaker Jason Kim set to produce. Sher‘s producer credits include the films “Contagion” and “Django Unchained,” while Kim’s include HBO’s “Barry” and Netflix’s “Love.”
No director or screenwriter has been named.
“It is a surreal thrill to have the opportunity to memorialize my mother in film,” Zauner said.
The 32-year-old, whose mother was Korean, talked to the LA Times last October about her mom’s death and her own heritage.
“[There was] this fear that I was all of a sudden not going to be Korean anymore, because I didn’t have her as an access point to my heritage, and that I was going to lose that if I didn’t work harder to maintain that and preserve that in myself,” Zauner said.
“Crying in H Mart,” which references the Korean American supermarket chain, was first published in 2018 as an essay of the same name in the New Yorker. In 2019, Zauner signed a book deal with Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. The memoir was released in April.
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