Books

A Patricia Arquette Memoir Is On The Way

by Dina Gachman

OK, so she's not running for president — that badass speech at the Oscars made us all hope for it, though — but Patricia Arquette is writing a memoir with Random House, and that's almost as good, right? The book will focus on Arquette’s unconventional family, her experience as a single mom, and her insights about being a woman in Hollywood.

“Writing a memoir will be a new and intimate artistic journey for me, and I hope to bring to it the same honesty I have always sought to bring to my work as an actor,” Arquette said in a statement. There might just be some juicy (and possibly infuriating) behind-the-scenes anecdotes about what it’s like being a woman in Hollywood, and here’s hoping she talks about some of her iconic roles like Alabama in True Romance and Renee/Alice in David Lynch’s mind bender Lost Highway.

This memoir has the potential to be honest, and crack open some topics that we haven't seen discussed yet in Hollywood. Take, for example, her speech when she won the 2015 Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Boyhood. Arquette delivered a passionate, rousing address about equal pay for women that got Meryl Streep to stand, point, and yell “Yes!” as if she were at a political rally. J. Lo looked pretty impressed, as well.

“It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America,” Arquette said after doing the whole “I’d like to thank the Academy” bit. The lack of strong roles for women and the dearth of directing jobs that go to women in Hollywood are important topics, and if anyone can pen a manifesto about them, it’s Arquette.

As far as her unconventional family, Arquette comes from a long line of actors, and her siblings Rosanna (who had a song named after her!), Alexis, Richmond, and David are all carrying on the family’s artistic heritage.

And who knows, maybe Meryl Streep will sign on to write the introduction.

Either way, it sounds like a winner, and I can't wait.