Mottola to direct Important Artifacts

Get ready for one heck of a title.

Superbad director Greg Mottola has been recruited by Paramount Pictures to direct Important Artifacts And Personal Property From The Collection Of Lenore Doolan And Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion and Jewelry .

Whew, we warned you. The film will be based on the book by Leanne Shapton, which is a property that Paramount purchased back in 2009.

According to Risky Business , Mottola will direct Brad Pitt and Natalie Portman, who are both attached to star, and the director is planning to turn the original tome into a romantic comedy.

Shapton’s book is set out like an auction catalogue, exploring 325 lots for auction that are the remains of a relationship between fictional couple Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris.

It sounds like an original (ahem, novel?) approach to representing a relationship, but will it translate to the big screen without becoming bogged down in romcom cliché?

If anybody can retain the book’s heart and humour, it’s Mottola, whose Adventureland last year impressed with its vivid depictions of teen relationships back in the ‘80s. Fingers crossed for this one.

Are Pitt and Portman a good pairing?

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.