Will Sharpe to helm film adaptation of bestselling book ‘Crying in H Mart’

Will Sharpe
| Photo Credit: Jordan Strauss

Actor-filmmaker Will Sharpe will direct the screen adaptation of author Michelle Zauner’s memoir Crying in H Mart.

According to People, Zauner will adapt her book that centres around her relationship with her Korean heritage and her mother, who died from cancer in 2014.

The coming-of-age story is about a half-Korean daughter who returns to small-town Oregon to care for her Korean mother. “Critical and smothering Chong-mi and creative and independent Michelle struggle to understand each other across a cultural fault line, only learning to see and accept one another through the formative power of music and the vibrant flavors of Korean cooking,” the official plotline read.

The project is backed by MGM. Sharpe, who most recently starred in the second season of HBO’s The White Lotus, previously directed movies The Electrical Life of Louis Wain and the indie Black Pond.

Sharpe, a Japanese-English filmmaker, said the book deeply resonated with him. “I found that it felt universal in its specificity. For me, it would be Japanese food and remembering growing up going to the 7-Elevens and the convenience stores in Tokyo and the dumplings that my mother would make when I was unwell.

“And I felt like I could recognize that in the descriptions of the Korean porridge or the kimchi and how important that still is to Michelle and how food can carry certain other things within it about your life,” the filmmaker said.

The adaptation of Crying in H Mart will be produced by Stacey Sher along with Jason Kim.