Dakota Fanning Fights a Loveless Marriage in Effie, and 5 Other Stories You'll Be Talking About Today

Also in this Wednesday edition of The Broadsheet: Adam Scott is an A.C.O.D.... Viola Davis heads to HBO... Elizabeth Olsen has some thoughts about female roles in Hollywood... and more ahead.

· Not that you needed any more proof that little Dakota Fanning isn't so little anymore, but the actress has signed on to play the titular role of a sexless wife in Effie. Written by Emma Thompson, Effie tells the true story of teen bride Euphemia Gray (Fanning) and her marriage to famed critic John Ruskin in 1850s London. Per Deadline, "Effie's husband never consummated the marriage over five years because Ruskin was for some reason disgusted by her body." Richard Laxton (An Englishman in New York) will direct, with Thompson, Tom Sturridge and Greg Wise co-starring. Before Fanning signed on, both Saoirse Ronan and Carey Mulligan were circling the project. [Deadline]

· Adam Scott will lead the indie comedy A.C.O.D. (which stands for 'Adult Children of Divorce') for director Stuart Zicherman. Scott will play a thirtysomething male forced to bring his parents back together for his younger brother's surprise wedding. Are we having fun yet? [Deadline]

· Anna Paquin, Ryan Phillippe and Luke Wilson will star in Straight A's, about a man recently out of rehab (Phillippe), the ghost of his dead mother, his brother (Wilson) and his brother's wife (Paquin) -- who still has a crush on him. [Variety]

· The Help star Viola Davis is close to finalizing a deal with HBO to produce and possibly star in an untitled series from Pariah director Dee Rees. The show -- which surprisingly is listed as a half-hour vehicle, despite seeming like a drama -- would follow a prep school headmaster (the role Davis could play) as she handles city corruption and her own hopes and dreams. Sounds like The Wire by way of Gossip Girl. [Variety]

· Remember reading about how the Sex and the City prequel was probably going to be a television show? Well, it's probably going to be a television show. HBO is shopping The Carrie Diaries to The CW, and the teen-centric network is interested in putting Gossip Girl executive producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage in charge of production. Neither Sarah Jessica Parker or Michael Patrick King are attached. XOXO. [Deadline]

· "A lot of times with female relationships and young women [in the movies], it's either Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants or catty bitch. I just have a problem with that. They're supposed to be either as perfect as how they're portrayed on Disney or as mean as they're portrayed in high school movies. And in real life it's neither of those." Future It-Girl Elizabeth Olsen sums up a major problem in Hollywood. [LAT/24 Frames]