Ellen Page And Diane Keaton Star In A Show We'd Watch

Let it not be said that HBO isn’t trying to correct its bromance-oriented series lineup. Ellen Page will join Diane Keaton in the pilot for Tilda, loosely based on the fractious entertainment blogger Nikki Finke.

Page, who recently signed on to star in Freeheld, itself based on the true story of a lesbian couple fighting for pension benefits, was also developing a show for HBO with Alia Shawkat called Stitch N’ Bitch. Keaton was linked to a project in development about the editor of a feminist porn magazine.

In Tilda, they will hopefully be getting some equally complex, challenging roles. According to the Finke-helmed Deadline Hollywood Daily,

Page will play Carolyn, a morally conflicted creative assistant caught between following the corporate culture of the studio she works for and following Tilda, who has taken a keen interest in her. Condon and Tell Me You Love Me creator Cynthia Mort wrote the script and are executive producing the pilot, which Condon is attached to direct.

And it’s fairly certain that Keaton will have a lot of fun with the lead character. The Hollywood Reporter got a hold of the pilot script not long ago, and described it as follows:

The Condon/Mort script describes Tilda as “50ish” with “long blonde hair, the last vestige of the prep school girl she once was,” and a demeanor that alternates between charming and monstrous (“I’d fire you because you’re a pathetic douche bag who fucks assistants and then replaces them,” she barks at the studio exec). She has emotional issues and is agoraphobic (her groceries are being delivered in one scene), preferring to stay inside because “I just find it uncomfortable to run into the people I write about,” she says. There hasn’t been a picture taken of Tilda for years. Oh, and she was fired from Newsweek and once had to sell her car to pay back taxes.

If the show gets picked up, it will help cement the status of cable, especially premium channels, as an ambitious haven for brilliant actress, particularly ones considered old by Hollywood: Keaton, Laura Linney, Edie Falco, Toni Collette and more.

Diane Keaton & Ellen Page In HBO’s Tilda [Deadline Hollywood Daily]

Related: Will Nikki Finke Sue HBO Over This Tilda Script? [THR]

Earlier: Fine Bromance: Where Are HBO’s Shows About Women?
Ellen Page’s (Onscreen) Lesbian Love Story