Will Packer To Produce New Female Driven Thriller ‘When I Was You’ With Focus Features

Variety is reporting that Will Packer Productions is teaming up with Focus Features to develop a female-driven thriller “When I Was You.”

Based on a novel by Amber Garza, “When I Was You” centers on a woman named Kelly Medina who becomes obsessed with another Kelly Medina — a single mother half her age who lives in her same town, has a baby boy, and has her whole life ahead of her. When they become friends, she finds a renewed sense of purpose taking care of the young woman and her baby.

“Amber Garza writes edgy and tense psychological thrillers that keep her readers on the edge of their seats,” Packer said. “We’re excited about collaborating with Focus Features on material this good.”

The obsession starts on an ordinary fall morning when Kelly Medina gets a call from her son’s pediatrician. It’s a cruel mistake; her son left for college a year ago. The receptionist quickly apologizes: another Kelly Medina, who’s half her age, is a new patient.  For days, Kelly can’t stop thinking about the woman who shares her name, lives in her same town, has a baby, and her whole life ahead of her. When Kelly just happens to bump into the single mother outside that pediatrician’s office, it’s simple curiosity getting the better of her. When they become friends, Kelly can’t help but find a renewed sense of purpose taking care of this young woman and her adorable baby boy. And when one Kelly disappears, well, the other one may know why.

“We’re honored that Amber has entrusted us with developing an adaptation of her work,” said James Lopez, President Will Packer Productions. “We look forward to partnering with the Focus team in bringing this elevated thriller to theaters.”

Garza has also authored “The Girl Frozen in Time,” “The Last Time I Saw Her,” and the “Prowl” trilogy.

Production, casting and further plot details on “When I Was You” have yet to be announced.

Will Packer and James Lopez will produce the movie under Will Packer Productions. The studio’s feature films have earned more than $1 billion from a slate that includes “Girls Trip,” “Night School,” “What Men Want,” “Little,” and “Think Like a Man.”

Focus Features and Will Packer Productions will also develop an ensemble film set in and around the Wattstax music festival in 1972 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Wattstax was a benefit concert that commemorated the deadly 1965 riots in Watts in a predominantly African-American neighborhood in Los Angeles.