Trudie Styler’s production company Xingu Films has nabbed the rights to children’s trilogy Grk.
The three books in Joshua Doder’s series (A Dog Called Grk, Grk And The Pelotti Gang and Grk And The Hot Dog Trail) all see the fictional pooch teaming up with 12-year-old Tim Malt to battle Eastern European dictators, South American criminals and evil-doers around the world.
“I've done a lot of work with human rights," she told The Hollywood Reporter, "and this is the first thing I've seen that covers the need to entertain our children while letting them know that they live in a world that is not safe for a lot of its children. It's a jumping board to introduce the concept that not everyone is as fortunate as we are. Each book examines the geo-political state of a country." Heady stuff.
And of course, it has that franchise potential with just a heroic hint of… hang on… don’t say the “H” word to Styler: "Our hero is not Harry Potter. He's not James Bond. There are no hyper-real things or great gadgets and gin. He's a citizen who does the right thing and becomes a young activist. The stories are wildly entertaining and set in exotic places. It's done with the broad stroke of high adventure." Gin! That’s what kids’ books have been lacking recently.
Styler’s currently hoping to nab funding for the budget and is also after a scriptwriter to scribble the thing.