The twisted tale of Orange County school parents’ revenge that spun out of control is coming to the screen. A feature film based on the Kelli Peters case, which has Julia Roberts attached to star and produce, is currently being shopped, and there are multiple bidders.
The film will be based on the book, which victim Kelli Peters wrote with Sam Rule (a pseudonym for a New York Times writer), “’I’ll Get You!’ Drugs, Lies, and the Terrorizing of a PTA Mom.” There is no screenwriter on board yet. Word is that frequent Roberts collaborator George Clooney and his Smoke House producing partner Grant Heslov are circling the project.
The book is described as the true story of an ordinary American woman who survived an evil conspiracy that turned her life upside down and shook her hometown to its core.
Kelli Peters was PTA president and volunteer at her daughter’ elementary school in Orange County, California. One day, another mom angrily accused her of keeping her son waiting during the afterschool pick-up. The confrontation led to the accuser and her husband, a power couple of attorneys, launching a campaign to ruin Peters’ life that included the demand for her dismissal from school volunteering, a lawsuit against her and ultimately her framing for drug possession by planing drugs in her car and reporting her to the police. Peters was arrested and investigated but the truth eventually came out and, after a five-year ordeal, Peters earlier tis year won $5.7 million-dollar civil judgment against the couple.
The book was published Sept. 2 by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. The following day, there a feature about the case, Framed, in the LA Times by reporter Christopher Goffard.
The feature project is being shopped by CAA, which reps Roberts, Peters and the book. It is unclear yet whether the news article, repped by ICM Partners, will be used as source material.
Roberts has portrayed real-life women before, most famously activist Erin Brockovich, a role that earned her an Oscar.