A folk hero in these parts, Paul King’s every move is scrutinised through a pair of specially-enhanced binoculars the likes of which garlanded explorer Montgomery Clyde in Paddington. Unfortunately they weren’t quite powerful enough to spot his signature on the contract for an adaptation of R.J. Palacio bestselling novel Wonder.
Wonder tells the story of a ten-year-old boy, August Pullman, who’s been keep away from school due to a craniofacial deformity caused by a rogue gene. He’s described in its pages as having had "a mushed-up face” from the moment he appeared from the womb and has grown up understandably sensitive to the opinions of others. When he finally arrives in fifth grade, the doorway opens to a different, bigger and potentially more painful life.
According to The Hollywood Reporter’s scoop, King will be directing for Lionsgate, a studio with something of a track record for successful young adult adaptations, and thus hopefully offering the Englishman a fraughtness-free introduction to the Hollywood studio system.
There are obvious parallels here with **Bunny And The Bull’**s agoraphobic unwilling to foray out into the world and Paddington, the ultimate furry outsider, and at first glance it seems a perfect marriage of director and material. With luck, King will be allowed to bring his trademark Heath Robinson creativity and visual inventiveness to the party. It’d be a strange hire if he wasn’t.
Where this leaves his possible involvement in a Paddington sequel - and let's not forget that neither Paddington 2 nor King's involvement in it have been officially confirmed - remains to be seen. It's hard to imagine anyone but King directing that (surely guaranteed) movie, and it's possible he fancies a less CGI-heavy palette cleanser before returning for a second instalment of everyone's favourite Peruvian marmalade devotee. Time will tell.
What we do know is that on Wonder he'll be working from a script by Steve Conrad (The Pursuit Of Happyness), who took on the job after an earlier draft by Jack Thorne for Kill Your Darlings director John Krokidas ended in the ‘creative differences’ bin. Mandeville Films’ David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman are producing.