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By Andrew Gans
and Zachary Pincus-Roth
29 May 2007

Vanessa Redgrave stars in The Year of Magical Thinking.
photo by Brigitte Lacombe

Television viewers may get the chance to watch Vanessa Redgrave's Tony-nominated performance in The Year of Magical Thinking in their living rooms.

Variety reports that HBO is currently in negotiations to film the new play, which is based on the Joan Didion book of the same name. No airdate has been announced.

Redgrave, who stars in the solo piece, recently received the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance. She is also nominated for a Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play.

In Magical Thinking, which is directed by David Hare, Redgrave plays Didion, reliving a shocking period in the famed author's life. One night, as Didion's daughter Quintana lay in a coma, her husband of 40 years, the writer John Gregory Dunne, died suddenly of a massive coronary as the two of them sat down to dinner in their New York apartment. Redgrave, as Didion, recounts the events of that night, Didion's memories of her marriage, the grieving period and the treatment of her daughter, who subsequently passed away as well.

Didion is the author of such classic books as "Slouching Towards Bethlehem," though "The Year of Magical Thinking" was her most successful, selling 600,000 copies. She collaborated with Dunne on such screenplays as "Up Close & Personal" and "A Star Is Born" with Barbra Streisand. The Year of Magical Thinking is her first play.

Redgrave won a Tony Award for her performance as Mary Tyrone in Long Day's Journey Into Night. A revered star of stage and screen, she has been nominated for six Oscars and won for "Julia."

Producers of the play are Scott Rudin, Roger Berlind, Daryl Roth, Debra Black and The Shubert Organization with executive producers Stuart Thompson and John Barlow.

The 24-week limited engagement began previews at Broadway's Booth Theatre March 6.

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