So, how much does Hollywood want to get involved with the adaptation of Donna Tartt‘s Pulitzer Prize winning “The Goldfinch“? A major studio is going to work with a streaming company to make it happen. Warner Bros. is teaming up with Amazon to co-finance the film, with the former getting the theatrical rights, and the latter the streaming rights, as you would expect. Not only that, there is some real star power circling the picture.
Set to be directed by John Crowley (“Brooklyn“), Ralph Fiennes is being eyed for a key role in the Peter Straughan (“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” “Frank“) penned script that centers on a teenager who survives an incident that kills his mother, and is taken in by a wealthy family. Here’s the full book synopsis:
Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don’t know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his longing for his mother, he clings to the one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.
As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love–and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.
Fiennes would play the antique store owner who befriends the main character, but nothing is locked down just yet. It’s also unclear when this might shoot. Crowley recently signed up to direct the entire TV series “Dreams Of Leaving,” with production slated to begin next year. That project will run six to eight episodes and will certainly eat up plenty of time, but perhaps WB and Amazon are hoping they can get “The Goldfinch” in front of cameras first. [Variety]