After many years of waiting, the film version of Jessica Knoll‘s bestselling novel The Luckiest Girl AliveNetflix is finally on its way
Produced and starring Mila Kunis as TifAni “Ani” FaNelli, the film centers on a woman who appears to “have it all.” However, she is forced to confront a devastating secret from her past when she is interviewed for a true crime documentary. “Determined once and for all to silence the whispers of suspicion and blame, Ani must weigh her options carefully, when telling the whole truth could destroy the picture-perfect life she’s worked so hard to create,” the Netflix synopsis teases.
The Luckiest Girl AliveIt was a huge success and was a hit with women everywhere when it was published in 2015. Knoll found it therapeutic to write the book, and she later revealed that much of what happens for Ani was based upon her own experiences with bullying and sexual assault.
“It really killed me to see the looks on these women’s faces when I would say, ‘Oh no, you know, I just made it up,’ and I just never wanted to see that look on anyone’s face again,” she told the TodayShow in March 2016.
Referencing a letter she received from a 55-year-old survivor, Knoll continued: “I just thought, what a horrible thing to have carried that with you for 40 years. I hope that this is not something that will happen again. I hope that more people feel compelled to share their stories and to talk about what’s happened to them and to know that they have nothing to be ashamed of.”
Knoll dedicated the book to her fellow survivors, writing, “To all the TifAni FaNellis of the world, I know.”
Adapting The Luckiest Girl AliveKnoll wrote the screenplay for her book and it was a labor of love. “This has been six years of relentless rewriting, rejections, studio changes, and torturous stretches of stagnation,” the author wrote via Instagram in February 2021. “I am SO proud of the fact that Mila Kunis read the 63rd draft of my script and was like yeah, I get this girl, and so grateful for her shrewd third act notes that helped me take the 64th draft into another stratosphere.”
She concluded: “And I am SO grateful to team The Luckiest Girl Alive who never gave up on this project and fought so hard to get us to this point.”
Continue scrolling to find out everything we know so far about the long-awaited film adaptation The Luckiest Girl Alive:
