Thread: All Things:Young Adult Fiction & Movies

Charlie Kaufman set to script Chaos Walking adaptation for Lionsgate

When you're kicking off a new franchise, calling Charlie Kaufman seems to be as outside-the-box as Hollywood thinking could possibly be.

However, if you're a studio looking for underlying material to support a new franchise, buying a young-adult series set in a dystopian future is pretty much as by-the-book as Hollywood thinking gets.

So when Lionsgate buys the "Chaos Walking" series of books by Patrick Ness, it makes perfect sense. I'm sure as soon as they're done with "The Hunger Games," they're going to want another series to be ready and waiting. Now it looks like they've hired Kaufman to adapt at least the first book in the series, "The Knife Of Never Letting Go." While Kaufman doesn't immediately leap to mind as the sort of guy who writes big studio mainstream films, this might actually turn out to be a very canny fit of filmmaker and material.

I doubt Kaufman's being courted as a director, and his attention right now is on his upcoming film "Frank or Francis," one of the flat-out weirdest scripts I've ever read, and anyone who goes to see that film is going to get what they expect from a Charlie Kaufman film. He's also been working on a closely-guarded secret project for Spike Jonze to direct, which is great news for fans of "Being John Malkovich" and "Adaptation." But this sounds like a book that might well benefit from bringing someone as smart as Kaufman into the mix.

The books, which I really don't know at all, have been highly acclaimed and they've won all sorts of awards. They're set in a world where there are no women and where all beings are able to hear each others' thoughts in a nonstop barrage known as The Noise. The first book deals with a boy named Todd who discovers a pocket of silence, leading to war and forcing him to leave the town where he grew up. Over the course of the series, a civli war plays out and questions are raised about any number of serious issues like gender politics, privacy, identity, and more.

That's hardly the sort of stuff we normally hear about when studios are looking for franchises, but maybe that's a good thing. I'm a fan of science-fiction as allegory, and I'm starting to think the "young adult" tag is just a marketing hook that can cover a pretty wide range of subject matter.

It should be interesting to see what he comes up with, and what Doug Davison and Alli Shearmur do with it as producers. We'll definitely keep this one on our radar, and we'll also being excited to see the uber-bizarre "Frank or Francis" make its way to the screen.

That's almost crazy awesome.

No link but in Hunger Games news Francis Lawrence(Constantine/I am Legend/Water for Elephants) has been given the franchise, or at least the second movie.

Kevin Durand and Robert Maillet Join THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS

The long-gestating adaptation of The Mortal Instruments is finally moving forward, and now two antagonists have been cast. Based on the first book in Cassandra Clare‘s young adult novel series, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, the film centers on a young woman who discovers she is the descendant of a line of secret cadre of half-angel warriors locked in an ancient battle to protect the world from demons.” Lily Collins and Jaime Campbell Bower are set as the leads, and Variety now reports that Kevin Durand (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) and Robert Maillet (Sherlock Holmes) have been cast as Pangborn and Blackwell, two henchman of the film’s main villain, Valentine.

The film adapatation had been in limbo when was without financing, but Screen Gems and Constantin Film recently teamed up to back the pic. Harold Zwart (The Karate Kid) will direct, with The Mortal Instruments set for release on August 23rd, 2013. Hit the jump to read the official synopsis.

Here’s the synopsis for The Mortal Instruments:

CLARY FRAY (Lily Collins) is an ordinary Brooklyn teenager until the night she meets the mysteriously tattooed JACE, who turns out to be a half-angel warrior known as a Shadowhunter. When Clary finds out her mother JOCELYN has been abducted, she desperately hopes Jace will be able to help. After a whirling golden portal transports her across time and space in a heartbeat, Clary realizes she too has the powers of the Shadowhunters. But can she harness them in time to save her mother?

Clary, Jace and their fellow Shadowhunters endure one breathtaking battle after another against vampire, warlocks and demons—only to discover Jocelyn hid a terrible secret from the fiercest warrior of all: VALENTINE. Cast out from the world of Shadowhunters, Valentine abducted Jocelyn believing she had a powerful tool known as the Mortal Cup. Using her newfound gifts, Clary finds the Cup, only to be brutally betrayed and forced to relinquish it.

Still reeling from this setback and racing to save Jocelyn before it’s too late, Clary finds herself caught in a battle between forces she barely understands. Based on the best-selling series by Cassandra Clare, MORTAL INSTRUMENTS is a magnificent urban fantasy rich in detail and suspense, about a girl’s journey to the darkest corners of the underworld to save those she loves.

Poor guys. They both keep getting those villain/henchman roles.

Hey, I play villain/henchman roles in real life it isn't that bad.

And, JD, that signature! :O

THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE Casts Sam Claflin as Finnick Odair | Collider

Seen this guy in 2 movies and he's pretty unecessary. Don't understand it.

BEAUTIFUL CREATURES Set Visit | Collider

This is being groomed to pick off the Twilight crowd. If you want more info there are a ton of links attached with all kinds of articles.