Diane Ackerman's bestselling 2008 war story **The Zookeeper's Wife is headed to the screen, according to Variety, with a script by Angela Workman.
It's the true story of Jan and Antonina Zabinski, extrapolated from Antonina's diaries. In the 1930s, the Zabinskis ran the Warsaw Zoo, and when Germany invaded Poland and most of the animals were killed in the bombing, the couple turned the zoo into a safe haven for Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto. They were hidden in the cages and sheds, and in the Zabinski's own home. The zoo became known to its guests as "the house under a crazy star". It was one of the War's most successful hideouts.
Ackerman's book won the 2008 Orion Award, given to works that "deepen our connection with the natural world". The judging committee said it was "a work of art, an act of conscientious objection to the destruction of the world, and an affirmation of hope and human decency." The San Francisco Chronicle said it was "bound to find its way to the screen." They were right!
The rights have gone to Scion Films, who were behind The Constant Gardner and Becoming Jane. Angela Workman's highest-profile recent screenplay was Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, which shot earlier this year, directed by Wayne Wang and featuring Hugh Jackman and Li Bingbing.
The Zookeeper's Wife is published in the UK by Old Street.