John Green’s ‘Looking for Alaska’ Moving Forward with Sarah Polley
Test caption
John Green’s Looking for Alaska, the first book published by the Fault in Our Stars author, has been in development for several years as also the first of the author’s optioned books – the script originally adapted was on the coveted “Black List” of top screenplays – but has been languishing until now, following the smash success of the book and movie of ‘Stars’. And now it looks as if Sarah Polley will adapt the book, this according to the Hollywood Reporter.
It’s not set if she will direct as well, though it would seem likely; Polley’s previous films behind the camera are Away from Her (a drama about an elderly married couple dealing with the wife’s Alzheimer’s, which gave Julie Christee an Academy award nomination), Take This Waltz (a really wonderful infidelity drama starring Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen, in his dramatic debut and trust me he’s excellent in it), and Stories We Tell (a moving, festival-darling documentary about the director’s parents and lineage), all character-based dramas. She’s had success with them all critically, albeit they were independent films.
The film of Looking for Alaska is being produced by Mark Waters (Mean Girls) and Jessica Tuchinsky for Paramount Pictures. Green’s book is another YA novel, inspired in part by Green’s own school experiences, about a boy who is at a boarding school and the girl (of the title) who becomes a point of interest and attraction for several of the boys including the protagonist.
More on this story as it develops and if Polley will be brought on by Paramount to direct – if so, it would be her first big studio movie. She is already a working actress in Canada and sometimes in Hollywood going back twenty-five years (The Adventures of Baren Munchausen, Splice and Go among her works).
Another Green novel, Paper Towns, is currently in pre-production at Fox and under the same production group as the makers of TFiOS with Nat Wolff attached to star.
Have you read the book? How might you rank it with Green’s other books? Let us know on Twitter @ or in the comments. And make sure to visit our Tumblr page!
