When talking about the early development work being done on a third Paddington film, we had cause to wonder what might be keeping the series' director Paul King from stepping behind the camera again. We have an answer, as Deadline reports that King is developing an adaptation of Glyn Maxwell's novel-length poem Time's Fool.
King's working with Jon Croker (who wrote The Woman In Black: Angel Of Death and contributed to both Paddington films) to adapt the poem, which was first published in 2001. It follows a young man who is cursed to ride a train for eternity, except for one night every seven years when the train pulls into his home town and he has a few hours to unravel the nature of his entrapment.
Another Paddington veteran, producer David Heyman, is on board to oversee the film for Fox Searchlight. "I’ve always been attracted to films which use magical ideas to explore real human emotions," King says. "And so when, one rainy afternoon, Jon poured me a cup of tea and told me the story of Time’s Fool, I was immediately hooked. It’s a captivating tale of wonder and heartbreak which sets the pulse racing and the imagination on fire. David, Jon and I will do our best not to mess it up."
There's no word on when the film might arrive.
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