Stephen Daldry just can’t put a good book down. But as usual, he’s not curling up in bed with it, he’s planning to turn it into a movie. His latest target? Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close.
Foer’s 2005 tome focuses on Oksar Schell, a nine-year-old eclectic pacifist who invents in his spare time, designs jewellery, studies astrophysics and plays the tambourine. Oh, and is obsessed with searching for lock that matches the key left behind by his father, who died in the September 11 attacks.
Scott Rudin is producing, and the pair has hired another talent used to dealing with upscale books – Eric Roth has written the script.
There’s no word on who might play Schell, but given Daldry’s eye for casting younger actors – see: Jamie Bell in Billy Elliot – we’re sure he’ll find someone great. Oscar-worthy material is surely just around the corner…