‘My Sister’s Keeper’ Author Jodi Picoult Had a ‘Really Terrible Experience’ With the Cameron Diaz-Starring Movie: My Book Is the ‘Story That I Intended’

In an interview with People magazine about her new book “By Any Other Name,” author Jodi Picoult revealed her inspiration for the novel came from the “terrible experience” she had with the 2009 film adaptation of “My Sister’s Keeper.”

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“It kind of goes back to when I had a really terrible experience turning ‘My Sister’s Keeper’ into a film,” Picoult said. “It took me a long time to kind of wrap my head around the fact that they didn’t ruin my book. My book is still there. And anyone who reads my book is still getting the story that I intended.”

“My Sister’s Keeper,” starring Cameron Diaz and Abigail Breslin, sits at a 47% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. However, former Variety film critic Justin Chang gave a glowing review upon its release in 2009 , writing, “Unsubtle, uneven and undeniably effective, this take-no-prisoners cancer weepie poses a fascinating moral quandary — a girl fighting her parents for the right to control her body while her older sister wastes away from leukemia — as a mere pretext for a full-scale assault on the viewer’s tear ducts.”

The film, directed by Nick Cassavetes, follows Anna Fitzgerald (Breslin), who sues her parents for medical emancipation for volunteering her kidney without content to her sister who is dying of leukemia. Made on a budget of $30 million, the film squeaked to profitability scoring just under $50 million at the domestic box office.

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Picoult’s latest novel, “By Any Other Name,” tells the story of two female authors. One is Emilia Bassano, based on a real woman who historians think may have been behind some of Shakespeare’s most acclaimed works. The second is Melina Green, a modern-day playwright who gains recognition after her play is submitted to a festival under her Black friend’s name.

Other films adapted from Picoult’s novels include “Salem Falls,” “The Tenth,” “Plain Truth” and “The Pact.”

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