Laura Dern seeks enlightenment at HBO

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - HBO is being "Enlightened" by Laura Dern and Mike White.

The pay cable network is developing a comedy in which Dern would play a formerly self-destructive woman who, after having a spiritual awakening, becomes determined to live an enlightened life, wreaking unintended consequences.

The script comes from White, the "School of Rock" scribe who recently competed on "The Amazing Race" with his father.

"There are so many dysfunctional types of characters populating cable television, and she is equally as dysfunctional as any of them," White said, "but her impulse is to get healthy, to make the world a better place even though it creates havoc."

The project stems from Dern's standout performance as colorful Florida Republican Katherine Harris in the 2008 HBO film "Recount," which earned her a Golden Globe Award and Emmy nomination.

HBO approached the actress about a deal. Dern was intrigued but wanted to commit only if she found the right material. She turned for advice to White, with whom she had developed a close friendship following her role on his 2007 film "Year of the Dog."

At first, White was OK with just helping her navigate her way into a TV series -- but that quickly changed.

"I'm such a huge fan of hers as an actress and a person, I realized I was going to be jealous of anyone doing (a show with her), so I just had to do it myself," he quipped.

White had already been bouncing around an idea for a feature script as a potential starring vehicle for Dern. She also had thoughts about what kind of series she wanted to do.

The two ended up "fine-tuning" their separate ideas in what became the premise of "Enlightened," said White, who hopes to shoot the script by the end of the year.

(Editing by DGoodman at Reuters)