Millions of women, including myself, have endured pregancy with the indispensible help of a little book called What to Expect When You’re Expecting. In fact, I’d suspect that purhasing this book (or borrowing it from a friend) is one of the first things that pregnant women do after freaking out over a positive pregnancy test. The bestseller is a very matter-of-fact guide to what’s going on at all stages of gestation and even includes some rather icky post-natal discussions; it does not mince words, and it is not a lovey-dovey, narrative-styled piece of literature. Naturally, Hollywood wants to ruin the book by lifting the title (for name recognition purposes) and adapting it into a form of romantic comedy starring none other than Cameron Diaz. This piece of news comes from Deadline’s Mike Fleming, whose sources are usually right on the money:

Nothing’s official yet, but I’m expecting Cameron Diaz to have a deal shortly to star in Lionsgate’s What to Expect When You’re Expecting, the Kirk Jones-directed romantic comedy adaptation of Heidi Murkoff’s bestselling how-to manual. The pic has a script by Heather Hach and Shauna Cross. Phoenix Pictures’ Mike Medavoy, Arnie Messer and David Thwaites are producing, and Doug McKay is co-producer. Murkoff and husband Erik Murkoff are exec producers with Alan Nevins. The idea is to take a book that has sold north of 16 million copies, and turn into a pic in the vein of Love Actually, where five couples experience the surprises that happen when a stork visit is imminent.

Diaz just started production today alongside Colin Firth in Gambit, the Michael Hoffman-directed caper comedy that was scripted by Joel and Ethan Coen. Shooting on What To Expect When You’re Expecting will begin in July. Diaz is repped by CAA and Rick Yorn.

[From Deadline]

What’s even worse than the retooling of the book’s subject matter into a nonrecognizable, episodic, mushy series of pre-birth marriage proposals and (inevitably) someone giving birth in the back seat of a cab is the fact that we’re going to have to watch Cameron Diaz freak out when her water breaks. The notion of Diaz giving a believable performance as a pregnant woman is completely laughable, which is partially her fault by giving all of those “soundbite”-styled interviews about how she loves her life more than the idea of having children and thinks marriage a dying institution. While Diaz will be acting like a pregnant woman in this movie, will it seem even remotely authentic to the target audience, who presumably enjoys the thought of having children and also feels a lot differently about marriage than Cameron seems to do? And don’t even get me started on how annoying her screams will sound in a birth scene.

Photos courtest of Fame Pictures