Maggie Beer’s Tuscan Cookbook is being turned into a movie script

Take a couple of friends and add a pinch of spice. One of Maggie Beer’s books is being made into a screenplay.

She’s arguably Australia’s biggest name in food and now Maggie Beer is destined for the big screen.

At least, her character is.

Beer’s Tuscan Cookbook – which she wrote with her good friend, Stephanie Alexander, during their 1997 “sojourn” to Italy – is being turned into a movie script by screenwriter Katherine Thomson.

Published in 1998, the book shares tales and recipes from the pair’s three months in Tuscany, where they ran an intimate cooking school from a villa south of Siena.

“The two women are extraordinary,” said Ms Thomson, who has written for TV series Doctor, Doctor and A Place to Call Home.

“They were juggling so many things at that time, and yet made a promise to themselves and to each other that they were going to have this adventure.

“Your friends are invaluable, really, and every woman needs them. It was the fact they were close friends, equally talented and yet incredibly different (that I found inspiring).

“I started thinking of The Marigold Hotel kind of story and we probably won’t end up there because it really is the story of them and how they started this, from scratch.”

Maggie Beer and Stephanie Alexander together in Victoria .Credit: Jason Robins/instagram

Ms Thomson wouldn’t speculate on who might play Beer and Alexander, who is regarded as one of Australia’s great food educators, only to say, “These are two great roles for two great international actors”.

The project is in its infancy – Thomson has so far met with the foodie friends once in Adelaide.

Beer, 77, described the news as “totally unbelievable”.

“There are times of your life that are so wonderfully significant that you have to pinch yourself that it were even possible,” Beer said.

“I can’t believe it’s 25 years since our sojourn in Tuscany, when Stephanie and I embarked on this adventure. It gave us so much; that deep love of Italy and the confirmation of everything we had both always believed, taken to another level of seasonality where produce at the markets was perfectly ripe in that if it was local, it was more expensive as it was more perfect.

“Our friendship and support for each other was so incredibly special and life affirming … to think of it coming to the big screen is both exciting and just a bit scary, too.”

Alexander described the ‘97 trip as “the adventure of our lives”.

“I am very excited and cannot wait to see who will be asked to play each of us,” she said.

From the cover of the pair’s Tuscan Cookbook, by Maggie Beer and Stephanie Alexander

The feature film has been optioned by boutique production and distribution studio, Arcadia, based in Orange NSW. It will be produced by Lisa Shaunessy, with Alexandra Burke as executive producer, “in the style of box office hits The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Under the Tuscan Sun and Julie & Julia”.

“There is a wonderful story of friendship and adventure within the pages of the Tuscan Cookbook,” Ms Burke said. “As beloved icons, Maggie Beer and Stephanie Alexander have made significant impacts and contributions to Australian life, in a similar way Julia Child revolutionised the home kitchen in America.”

Arcadia will also produce Stephanie’s Journal – Alexander’s own account of the adventure.