Fans of John Green had to wait a long time to get any of his films to the big screen, but it looks like our birthdays and Christmases might just come at once! It has been revealed that Paramount Pictures are currently developing Green’s debut novel Looking For Alaska, and is eyeing up actress/director Sarah Polley to pen and possibly direct the project.
Looking For Alaska tells the story of a teenager Miles Halter who is sent away to boarding school and learns about living life on the edge from his beautiful and mysterious roommate Alaska Young. While Polley has starred in such films as DAWN OF THE DEAD, GO and THE SWEET HEREAFTER, she has been causing a buzz with her film projects, even earning an Academy Award nomination in Best Adapted Screenplay for her movie AWAY FROM HER.
But with the success of THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, studios with film rights to his novels seem to be fast tracking development. Paramount Pictures did try and develop Looking For Alaska with The O.C. and Gossip Girl creator Josh Schwartz, but it did not go any further. John Green gives this explanation on his website:
“Josh wrote an excellent screenplay adaptation of the book, a screenplay which I desperately loved, but there was no enthusiasm for that kind of movie at Paramount”
Looks like they are now! If this does fall flat again, at least we know Paper Towns is definitely on the way.
Source: Deadline/ John Green’s Website
