Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Friday 14 September 2018
Don't tell Oprah: 'A Million Little Pieces' is now a movie

By JAKE COYLE the ringer in so many differ-
Associated Press ent ways. That's the thing
TORONTO (AP) — James that I hold true: James' so-
Frey's "A Million Little Piec- briety from where he be-
es," once one of the most gan to where he is now."
toxic properties in Holly- "A Million Little Pieces"
wood, has been reborn on made its debut at the To-
the big screen thanks to di- ronto International Film Fes-
rector Sam Taylor-Johnson tival where it's seeking dis-
and her actor husband, tribution. That it got this far
Aaron, whom she wrote it is purely because of Taylor-
with. Johnson's dedication to it.
In even a movie world She and Aaron wrote the
where "based on a true script on spec (without fi-
story" often has elastic nancing or producers lined
meaning, a film about "A up) and Frey granted them
Million Little Pieces" is a the film rights. Warner Bros.
surprise. After Frey admit- initially won the rights in a
ted to partially fabricating bidding war, with Brad Pitt's
or embellishing parts of his Plan B to produce. But fol-
2003 memoir about drug lowing Frey's disgrace, the
addiction and rehabilita- movie rights were returned
tion, Oprah Winfrey, who to the author.
had include Frey's book in Taylor-Johnson's produc-
her book club, memorably tion was far from such a
chastised him on television. heavyweight operation as
The book's publisher, Dou- In this Sept. 6, 2018 file photo, director Sam Taylor-Johnson, left, and her actor husband Aaron Tay- was first planned. After rais-
bleday, offered refunds to lor-Johnson attend the gala for "Outlaw King" at the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto. ing the money, she shot it in
readers and in future edi- Associated Press 20 days. q
tions included an author's
note acknowledging dis- Pieces."
tortions. "It was really storytelling," Author chronicles her
But for Taylor-Johnson, who the 51-year-old British direc-
helmed the adaptation of tor said in an interview. "It's
another best seller ("Fifty his journey, from where he
Shades of Grey"), there was is now however many years coming of age in memoir
still truth in "A Million Little later, having been through

evolving, even decades "I am playing with discom-
after the mother dies. fort on my mat so I can
Sometimes the thing that deal with what happens
was fraught in a mother- off the mat as well," Brown-
daughter relationship later Worsham writes.
turns out to be a source of The book was conceived
strength. following a widely shared
Such is a theme in Sasha essay that Brown-Worsham
Brown-Worsham's memoir, wrote for The New York
"Namaste the Hard Way." Times titled, "Not my Moth-
Brown-Worsham chronicles er's Yoga."
her coming of age, from The author works in her own
a young girl growing up adventures in parenting
in an upper middle class and how having children
neighborhood near Day- helped put her mother in a
ton, Ohio, to her adulthood more favorable light.
living with a husband and "There is danger every day
This cover image released by children in the suburbs of of turning a dead woman
Health Communications, Inc., New York City. into a saint, of making my
shows "Namaste the Hard As a child, Brown-Worsham mother into someone with
Way: A Daughter's Journey to was embarrassed by her no flaws ... even 24 years
Find Her Mother On the Yoga
Mat," by Sasha Brown-Wor- mother's Sanskrit chanting, after her death," she writes.
sham. middle-of-the-day yoga "I am still chasing her ghost
Associated Press poses and flowing linen and it's not because she is
pants. But as an adult, long a perfect human or moth-
By TRACEE M. HERBAUGH after her mother's death er."
Associated Press from cancer, Brown-Wor- The memoir is one of many
"Namaste the Hard Way: sham gravitated to the very released of late that de-
A Daughter's Journey to thing that pricked the un- pict a woman's experience
Find Her Mother on the ease of her adolescence. coming into adulthood.
Yoga Mat" (HCI), by Sasha Yoga became the way Readers of this genre, es-
Brown-Worsham she reconnected with the pecially those interested in
A girl's emotional connec- mother she lost as a teen. yoga, will find the book's
tion to her mom never stops Yoga helped her heal. messages resonate.q