Producer Bonnie Timmermann was dazzled by the script. “I read the first draft of the screenplay with my mouth open,” she reports. “It was so beautiful and so unique. I never expected anything like it. Then I asked Ed Pressman to read it and I noticed he was reading it with his mouth open as well. We knew we had a script that was very special.”

Timmermann had had many discussions with her friend, TRAFFIC producer Laura Bickford, about making a film together. She suspected FUR might be the one, and gave the final screenplay to Bickford. “I was so taken by the journey I went through with the character of Diane Arbus,” says Bickford. “On one level it’s a very human, relatable transformation story of a woman becoming herself and breaking free from the constraints of a life in the ‘50s to become the artist she’s meant to be. On another level, it’s a real fairy tale with allusions to `Alice in Wonderland’ and `Beauty and the Beast.’ And it’s a great, sexy love story.”

Bickford was working with producer Bill Pohlad at the time and shared the script with him. Pohlad, who had recently executive produced Ang Lee’s BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, was intrigued by the script as well. “I found compelling the script’s depiction of Arbus emerging as an artist. But the story isn’t just about Diane Arbus. It’s about any woman, any person, who is moving from being one thing and finding her calling as an artist.”

Pohlad and Bickford agreed to produce the film alongside Timmermann, with Pohlad’s River Road Entertainment providing the financing. Producer Andrew Fierberg, Shainberg’s production partner, completed the team. Bosworth was delighted to see a film being made some 20 years after the publication of her book, but more importantly, she was thrilled with the people making it. “I had a wonderful relationship with both Steven and Erin,” Bosworth affirms. “They’re both amazing, very creative and intelligent, sensitive people. The image of the little girl standing on the ledge – I think the film as a whole really evokes that. ‘Diane’ is scared to death when she goes into Lionel’s apartment, but she’s determined to go in, and she’s determined to photograph him.”