Jenny Mollen is a writer and actress living in New York. Until two years ago, her life was exciting, sexy, a little eccentric, and one hundred percent impulsive. She had a husband who embraced her crazy—who understood her need to occasionally stalk around the house in his ex-girlfriend’s old beach caftans, or to invite their drug dealer to Passover Seder (so he wouldn’t feel like they were only using him for drugs). Then they had their son, Sid, and overnight, Jenny was forced to grow up: to be responsible, to brush her hair, to listen to her voicemail.
Live Fast Die Hot is a collection of stories about what happens when you realize that some things are more important than crafting the perfect tweet. It follows Jenny to Morocco, where she embarks on a quest to prove to herself that she can travel alone without reenacting a plotline from Taken. It shows her confronting demons—most of them from childhood, a few from the spirit realm. And it culminates in Peru, where Jenny decides that maybe the cure for her worries lies at the bottom of a cup of ayahuascha.
Hilarious, outlandish, and surprisingly affecting, Live Fast Die Hot reminds you that even if you aren’t cut out for adulthood, at least you can be better than your mother.
EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros has acquired rights to Live Fast Die Hot by bestselling author Jenny Mollen. Anne Hathaway has come attached to star in a film based on the author’s experiences, and Gail Berman will produce with Hathaway. Mollen, whose book was published by Doubleday in June, will be executive producer.
Mollen wrote about a transformation of her priorities as she evolved from a social-media-centric and impulsive personality — who once invited her drug dealer to Passover Seder so he wouldn’t feel like they were only using him for drugs — to a first-time mother. The irreverent self-discovery essays in the book make her a kindred spirit to the likes of Chelsea Handler and Lena Dunham, both of whom lent laudatory blurbs when the book was published. The project will be overseen by WB’s Chantal Nong, and it is part of a concerted effort by Greg Silverman’s feature division to recruit female filmmakers and talent to tell stories. Read more...
Jenny Mollen is also the writer adapting the book.
Photo Credit: REX/Shutterstock/Doubleday
Jenny Mollen is hovering only slightly above sanity, which is the one quality I require in order to be friends with a mother. This hysterical circus of a book reminds me why we're friends.
Raucous. . . . Mollen employs her singular wit to confront the anxieties of motherhood and finally growing up.
I kind of can't believe Jenny Mollen is an actual person and not a character—she's biting, hilarious, surprising, over sharing, and relatable.
With her incomparable wit and acidic wisdom, Jenny now turns her signature perspective to the most terrifying of feminine terrain: motherhood. And with a generous helping of demented antics and just enough vulnerability to make you cry, she'll have every complicated woman thinking they just might be up for the job. Lord help us all.
Sharp, saucy, and mildly disturbing, she reminds me of a young, psychotic Nora Ephron. . . . You’ll inhale [Mollen’s] memoir like an illegal substance.
One of the funniest books I’ve read this year. . . . Reaches a level of hilarious candor and keen eye for absurdity in the everyday that echoes the late essayist Nora Ephron. . . . A remarkable feat.
Raunchy, witty, whip-smart fun. Jenny Mollen is the girl your mother warned you about.
Even a life beautifully enriched by a child couldn’t dampen [Mollen’s] effortlessly snarky outlook on kids, love, marriage, and Tinder. . . . Hilariously candid.
The wild, wonderful Jenny Biggs unleashes her life story… Proof that life is often stranger and always funnier than fiction.