They wrote the first draft of the screenplay in 2007 but it was not until 2011, and the attachment of Kevin Kline, that things started to move forward. Killer Films' Christine Vachon and Pam Koffler came on to produce, and Susan Sarandon and Dakota Fanning signed on for the mother-daughter team of Florence and Beverly. Production took place in Atlanta Georgia in 2013. The city's various locations were used to represent Los Angeles, New York, French Equatorial Africa, Cuba and Vancouver. The movie premiered at Toronto International Film Festival in 2013 to a mixed critical response. Several critics praised Kline's performance as Oscar worthy, whereas other seemed confounded by the movie's lack of a moral stance. Glatzer and Westmoreland's intent had always been to focus on the permission for the relationship, afforded by the mother, rather than its morality. Based on a 2007 book written by Lisa Genova, "Still Alice" is a film about a 50-year-old linguistics professor who develops early onset Alzheimer's disease. Glatzer and Westmoreland were hired to adapt the book in 2011 by UK-based producing duo Lex Lutzus and James Brown. Killer Films' Christine Vachon and Pam Koffler then came on as US production partners and Maria Shriver and Elizabeth Gelfand Stearns came on as executives and co-executive producers. Julianne Moore was Glatzer and Westmoreland's first choice to play Alice. She was soon joined by Kristen Stewart and Kate Bosworth, who had been a long time fan of the book. Alec Baldwin then came on to round out the cast, he and Moore having worked together on the TV show "30 Rock". Glatzer and Westmoreland changed the location for the film from Boston to New York and the university from Harvard to Columbia. Shooting took place over 23 days in March 2014. The movie was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics, and released in December 2014. Glatzer was living with ALS and some critics have suggested a connection between his own battle with illness and the raw, honest depiction of illness in the film. Moore won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance, and dedicated her win to Glatzer. Glatzer married writer and director Wash Westmoreland in September 2013. On March 10, 2015, he died of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).