Halloween and Guy Fawkes’ Night are behind us so it’s official: it must be Christmas. Thank goodness then that the man the world most associates with the season of giving – Christian Slater – has agreed to star in the heart-warming tale of a lonely man redeemed by the friendship of an eight-year-old leukaemia patient.
Gideon’s Gift, which has been adapted from Karen Kingsbury’s novel, finds Big Earl Gibson (Slater) still mourning his wife and daughter, who he lost at Christmas years ago. Living on the streets, he initially rebuffs the attempts of young Mercer (Elle Fanning) to befriend him. But through a miracle, he finally comes to understand the true meaning of… Oh, you gave up reading a paragraph ago, didn’t you, you heartless fiend?
There’s no director attached yet, but the plan is to start shooting the film next February in New Mexico, that most Christmassy of States.