I can confidently say that Lasse Hallstrom has become one of my most well-respected directors over time. I loved Chocolat [1], What's Eating Gilbert Grape [2] and last year's indie film The Hoax [3], and I have a lot of respect for The Cider House Rules and The Shipping News. So whenever there's news about a Hallstrom project, I sit up and pay attention.

Now Hallstrom is signed on to direct Channing Tatum [4] in an adaptation of Nick Sparks' bestselling novel Dear John [5]. According to Variety, the story follows "a soldier who, while home on leave, falls for a conservative college student." Tatum will play the soldier, though there's no word yet on who will play his leading lady.

I tend to think of Sparks' books as sentimental weepies and while I liked the movie version of The Notebook [6], frankly I barely got through A Walk to Remember. But who knows? Maybe Channing and whoever is cast as the "conservative college student" will become the next Ryan [7] and Rachel [8]!

Source [9] and source