April 2, 2010

Stephen Daldry picks his next book to adapt into a likely Oscar nominee...

...and it's one with a lot of potential too. The Hollywood Reporter has the story:

Stephen Daldry, who has developed a reputation for high-caliber literary adaptations with "The Hours" and "The Reader," is tackling his latest book.

Daldry is attached to direct "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," the adaptation of the Sept. 11-themed novel by Jonathan Safran Foer.

Scott Rudin, king of the high-brow adaptations, is producing "Close," which will be a Paramount and Warner Bros. co-production.

The 2005 book centers on Oskar Schell, a nine-year-old amateur inventor, jewelry designer, astrophysicist, tambourine player and pacifist, as he searches New York for the lock that matches a mysterious key left by his father when he was killed in the September 11 attacks. Eric Roth, who last took on "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," penned the adaptation.

Casting the child role will be critical, but CAA-repped Daldry has also established a knack for finding key young talent. The director gave Jamie Bell his feature debut with 2000's "Billy Elliot" and he introduced German actor David Kross to American audiences in "The Reader." Kross was a teen when he played the younger version of Ralph Fiennes in the Holocaust-themed film.

-I know a lot of people who love the book, so perhaps this is another winning combination...thoughts?

10 comments:

  1. On the subject of this project though, this one sounds more interesting, to me at least. Perhaps this will be his first "deserved" nomination...

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  2. Yea, I know what you mean, but I still can't fully respect the guy out of spite, lol.

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  3. I've learned to be more objective, but I actually don't care much for his films, so I'm hoping this one is good, since I know a lot of people who absolutely slobber over the book and its potential...

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  4. Also, with Eric Roth scripting, it just is leaking prestige...

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  5. Yea, and while I do think that Eric Roth is a talented writer, he tends to repeat himself a bit too much...

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  6. You can't possibly mean the similarities between Forrest Gump and Benjamin Button, can you? Tee hee...

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  7. Lol, no comment...

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