 |
||
 |
||
| ||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
Poppy Shakespeare by Clare Allan In the Spring of 2006, Cowboy Films with the backing of Channel 4, optioned Clare Allan's funny, brilliant and moving first novel which tells the story of six months in the life of a group of day-patients at the Dorothy Fish hospital in North London, when a new and rather unusual patient explodes into their lives. She is Poppy Shakespeare. Sashaying through the door in her six-inch skirt and twelve-inch heels, desperately protesting her sanity, it falls to N, our narrator, to be her guide. The broadcast date is set for March 31st. Adapted by Sarah Williams (Becoming Jane) and directed by Ben Ross (The Young Poisoner's Handbook) this highly original film stars Anna Maxwell Martin as N and Naomie Harris as Poppy
No! I Don't Want to Join a Bookclub by Virginia Ironside WW Entertainment, with the backing of BBC TV, have just optioned Virginia's hilarious debut novel to adapt as a 90 minute drama for television. The novel has been dubbed Bridget Jones for the over-60s, and is the diary of Marie Sharp, turning 60 and rejecting men once and for all. Instead she falls in love with her new grandson and turns her hand to matchmaking her new French (female) lodger. And, then reluctantly finds herself falling for someone she has known her whole life. The producers are looking for a new script writer and we hope to see this one in production by the end of the year, depending on the availability of the high-profile and well-loved British actress attached to play Marie . . .
A Jealous Ghost by A.N. Wilson Andrew's compellingly creepy psychological thriller is a contemporary take on The Turn of the Screw, and as such is wonderful material for a upmarket horror film. Ben Forkner at Management 360 took away a copy of Andrew's book from my office back in 2005, gave it to Kirsten Dunst to read, who loved it, and then attached Megan Holley (whose debut feature Sunshine Cleaning is released this year) and took it to Paramount Vantage, who have optioned the book as a packaged deal. Megan has just delivered an excellent first draft script. Kirsten will play the part of the unstable American nanny. They are now looking for directors.
The Motel Life by Willy Vlautin A 21st century John Steinbeck, Willy Vlautin's novel tells the story of the Flannigan brothers. Jerry Lee comes back one night, drunk and distraught, with the body of a dead child on the back seat of his car. How he and his brother Frank deal with this tragedy and its aftermath is compellingly told by this very talented Nevada-based American writer, lead singer and songwriter for the Alt Country band Richmond Fontaine. Babel screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga (through his new company AC Films) optioned Willy's novel last year, amid stiff competition for the rights, and the author, at Guillermo's insistence, is adapting himself.
The Passenger by Chris Petit Another Cowboy Films deal, made at the end of 2006 with the backing of Film Four, this powerfully compelling page-turner of a thriller has been optioned for Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland) to direct. Emotionally reminiscent of Costa Gavros’s Missing, this is essentially a father and son story in the guise of a conspiracy thriller. Beginning with a plane crash, it tells the story of Collard's search for his 19-year old son, who British secret services suspect may be involved in the plot to bring down the plane. Tipped off by his son's German girlfriend (hitherto unknown by Collard) who claims to have heard from him since the crash, Collard is told that his son wasn't logged on the passenger list, and from this point on begins his search for the son he realises he knows so little . . .
In Tasmania by Nicholas Shakespeare Focussing on Part 2 of Nicholas Shakespeare's fascinating history of Tasmania's emergence as a colony, he has adapted the story of the Black Line for a feature film about the brutal tragedy of the Tasmanian Aboriginal population being wiped out by the British in the first half of the 19th century. Andy Harries (The Queen) optioned this for Granada but has taken the project with him to his new company Leftbank Pictures.
The Patrick Melrose Trilogy/Some Hope by Edward St Aubyn From Provence to New York to Gloucestershire, through the savageries of a childhood with a tyrannical father and an alcoholic mother to a young adulthood fraught with drug addiction, we follow Patrick Melrose's search for redemption amidst a crowd of glittering social dragonflies whose vapidity is the subject of his most stinging and memorable barbs. The actor Jack Davenport has been developing the trilogy Maria Aitken and Patrick McGrath, whose screen adaptation is attracting interest from a well loved actor/director.
Who Moved My Blackberry? by Lucy Kellaway Kudos Film and TV optioned this hilarious and acutely observed novel about contemporary office life. Martin Lukes is a ludicrous executive addicted to his blackberry with a rather overblown sense of his own importance, and his wife's lack of importance. It is obvious to everyone save Martin, that his wife is a superior being in every way. Worst Week of My Life co-writers Mark Bussell and Justin Sbresni have recently delivered an excellent pilot script for the BBC. Kudos are waiting to hear whether the project has been green-lit.
The Amnesia Clinic by James Scudamore This is a compellingly readable witty and entertaining first novel by a writer with ‘talent to burn’. Set in contemporary Ecuador, it tells the story of the teenage friendship between Anti, a quiet English ex-pat, and his flamboyant classmate Fabián. Fabián inherits his uncle’s fondness for telling outlandish tales, but in his lies the line between fantasy and reality becomes more and more blurred, especially on the subject of his parents’ death/disappearance. When Anti joins in with a fake newspaper article about an amnesia clinic based on the coast Fabián becomes convinced he may find his mother there, so the two boys embark on a journey from which one of them will never return. Portobello Pictures optioned this novel at the beginning of 2007. The plan is to produce a lowish budget picture in the vein of The Motorcycle Diaries and Y Tu Mama Tambien.
In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant This critically acclaimed and internationally bestselling novel about a courtesan and her companion dwarf in sixteenth Century Renaissance Italy has been optioned for feature film by two multi-award-winning producers, Donna Gigliotti (Emma, Shakespeare in Love) and Barry Weissler (Chicago). Escaping the sack of Rome in 1527, with their stomachs churning on the jewels they have swallowed, the courtesan Fiammetta and her dwarf companion, Bucino, head for Venice to start life anew. Together they make the perfect partnership; the sharp-tongued, sharp-witted dwarf and his vibrant mistress, trained from birth to charm, entertain, and satisfy men who have the money to support her. A-list screen writer Michael Cristofer (perhaps best known for his adaptation of The Witches of Eastwick) is adapting. Think a Rennaissance version of The Grifters . . .
Swung by Ewan Morrison Ewan Morrison’s strikingly original first novel is set in Glasgow about a couple who begin to experiment sexually as a way of facing problems in their relationship - of which Irvine Welsh has said “"Sometimes - very rarely - a book is just so good that a string of gushing superlatives still seem to be damning it with feint praise. Swung is that kind of a novel, genuinely groundbreaking in its scope and insights, highlighting that it's author is one of the most gifted and accomplished writers to have emerged in recent years." A deal negotiated on behalf of Lucy Luck Associates; Gillian Berrie and (the director) David Mackenzie’s Glasgow-based Sigma Films have optioned the novel with Ewan adapting (he has just delivered a first draft script) and David will direct. Scottish Screen have financed the initial development stage. David Mackenzie’s most recent film Hallam Foe (another literary adaptation starring Jamie Bell) premiered to rapturous reviews at the Berlin Festival, and Red Road, winner of the Palme D’Or at Cannes last year and written and directed by Andrea Arnold, was a recent Sigma Films production in conjunction with Lars Von Triers’ company. David says of the book, 'Swung is a brave and beautiful book and I would like to make a brave and beautiful film based on it'.
Mortal Mischief and Vienna Blood by Frank Tallis Set in Vienna in 1902, the first book introduces us to Dr Max Liebermann, a young disciple of Sigmund Freud, who is called upon by his good friend Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt to shed light on the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of beautiful medium. The room containing the body has been locked from the inside and a cryptic note suggests a malevolent supernatural power is at work. Using the new science of psychoanalysis, Liebermann probes the minds of Rheinhardt’s suspects. Think Cracker, but in early Twentieth Century Vienna . . Critically acclaimed playwright Steve Thompson has now been engaged to adapt the first novel in Frank Tallis’s brilliantly compelling historical crime series The Liebermann Papers. BBC Television (producer Lisa Osborne) plan to make these two-part dramas popular pre-watershed viewing and have a rolling option on the whole series of books, the first two books having been optioned initially. Frank is attached as a consultant.
Wild Swans by Jung Chang Few books have ever had such an impact as Wild Swans. Since its first publication it has been translated into 30 languages and sold more than 10 million copies. Through the story of three generations of women in her own family – grandmother, mother and daughter – Jung Chang reveals the whole tragic history of China’s twentieth century. Recently optioned by Portobello Pictures, they plan a Chinese language film of the highest quality. Christopher Hampton renowned playwright and screenwriter (who recently adapted Atonement and Embers), is attached to adapt.
A Small Death in Lisbon by Robert Wilson This compulsively readable novel, part thriller, part psychological mystery, links two stories – late 90’s Lisbon, and Inspector Zé Coelho is investigating the murder of a young girl. As he digs deeper he overturns the dark soil of history and unearths old bones – a horrific connection to the arrival of the Nazis in Lisbon in 1941. The A-list, multi-Oscar winning screenwriter Ron Bass (best known for Rainman, Snow Falling on Cedars and Entrapment), is optioning this novel himself and has an ambitious big budget feature in mind with exciting casting potential.
Annie's Box by Randal Keynes In a chest of drawers bequeathed by his grandmother, author Randal Keynes discovered the writing case of Charles Darwin’s beloved daughter Annie, who died at the age of ten. In it were the notes Darwin kept through Annie’s illness. Together with his deeply moving memorial of her, they provide a key to provocative new insights into Darwin’s views on nature, evolution, and the human condition. Recorded Picture Company optioned this book at the beginning of 2007. Jeremy Thomas is producing, with John Collee adapting and Jon Amiel to direct. The author is consultant.
The Ninth Life of Louis Drax by Liz Jensen Nine-year-old Louis Drax is a problem child. He’s bright, precocious, deceitful and dangerously, disturbingly accident prone. On a family day out it seems almost predestined that something will happen. But this time it is worse than anyone could have imagined. “A remarkable suspense novel: tart, mysterious and wrenching” Anthony Minghella Purchased outright at auction three years ago, The Weinstein Company and Mirage Productions aim to produce Minghella’s own adaptation of this unique and wonderfully unsettling novel. Anthony Minghella is working on a script and will also direct.
The Blind Man of Seville by Robert Wilson From the Gold Dagger award-winning author Robert Wilson, this gripping psychological thriller introduces homicide detective Javier Falcon as he investigates the grotesque murder of a leading restaurateur, found bound and gagged in front of his TV. Self-inflicted wounds tell of the man's struggle to avoid the unendurable images he's been forced to watch. The investigation into the victim's turbulent life sends Falcon trawling through his own past and the ferociously candid journals of his late father, a world-famous artist. Painful revelations churn up Falcon's unreliable memory and more killings push him to the edge of terrifying truth. Peter Naderman at Germany-based Network Movie optioned the novel in 2005 and up and coming writer Will Conroy has delivered a first draft script.
Bruce Chatwin by Nicholas Shakespeare Bruce Chatwin’s death in 1989 brought a meteoric career to an abrupt end, since he burst onto the literary scene in 1977 with his first book, In Patagonia, Chatwin himself was different things to different people: a journalist, a photographer, an art collector, a restless traveller and a bestselling author; he was also a married man, an active homosexual, a socialite who loved to mix with the rich and famous, and a single-minded loner who explored the limits of extreme solitude. NY producer Rachael Horovitz, recently optioned this biography, her first venture as an independent producer (Speciality Films) financed by Film Four. She is hoping to attach an A list screenwriter for a film in the vein of Iris – the story of an extraordinary man and an extraordinary marriage. Elizabeth Chatwin is on board as consultant.
Northline by Willy Vlautin Optioned for film by Jeff Sharp of Sharp Independent (producer of “Boys Don’t Cry” and “You Can Count on Me”). It’s one of the first in a slate he is building in his deal with HarperCollins US - Sharp Independent at HarperCollins. “Like Robert Altman's NASHVILLE, Willy Vlautin's Reno, Nevada is a moving portrait of a town of dislocated, unforgettable characters imbued with a beautiful sense of yearning. Among them is Allison Johnson, who flees Las Vegas and her abusive boyfriend, searching for comfort and the ability to move on from the haunting mistakes of her past through the imaginary conversations she has with Paul Newman and the characters he played. A new life emerges for Allison and the lost denizens of Reno as told through Willy's words and the stunning collection of songs that he has created specifically for this piece.” |
