When she’s not serenading us with one of 2023’s greatest cinematic monologues, America Ferrera can be found adapting bestselling novels for the big screen.
Indeed, with her Barbie efforts firmly locked and loaded in her résumé—a résumé that now includes an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress—Ferrera has now set her sights on helming her first feature film, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, based on Erika Sánchez’s 2017 novel of the same name with a script from Linda Yvette Chávez (Gentefied).
Per Deadline, Ferrera’s film will follow the plight of teenager Julia Reyes, whose lofty dream of a thriving writing career is only rivaled by the tenacious judgment of her parents, who, like Julia, are still reeling from the death of her older sister Olga, who never had a chance to grow up and subsequently dare to dream the way Julia does now. Shackled by the relentless comparisons to her now-immortalized sister, Julia seeks to learn more about her sibling and the gap she left behind in her family, all while trying to break free from her parents’ burdensome restraints.
If this past year has taught us anything, it’s that Ferrera—whether she’s reconnecting with her childhood toys in Barbie or fangirling over stock-centric YouTube channels in Dumb Money—has a knack for understanding an assignment inside and out, so seeing her take the reins as a director is a starkly exciting development, to say nothing of the fact that she’s bound to treat this particular adaptation with the exact TLC that only an artist of her specialties and experience could.
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter will be produced through Amazon MGM Studios’ Orion Pictures (Women Talking, American Fiction). At the moment, there’s no sign of any casting announcements.
(featured image: Warner Bros. Pictures)
