Collider reports that Dan Eckman, who is best known for 2010’s excellent Mystery Team, will be c0-writing and directing an adaptation of DC Pierson‘s novel The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To. Eckman has been a longtime collaborator of Pierson’s, as they both started together in the New York-based sketch comedy group Derrick Comedy. Here’s the plot of the novel:
When Darren Bennett meets Eric Lederer, there’s an instant connection. They share a love of drawing, the bottom rung on the cruel high school social ladder and a pathological fear of girls. Then Eric reveals a secret: He doesn’t sleep. Ever. When word leaks out about Eric’s condition, he and Darren find themselves on the run. Is it the government trying to tap into Eric’s mind, or something far darker? It could be that not sleeping is only part of what Eric’s capable of, and the truth is both better and worse than they could ever imagine.
Pierson’s novel has been getting great reviews since it was first published last year, a coming of age story with its own twists and filled with Pierson’s brand of humor. He helped co-write the script for the adaptation alongside Eckman and Meggie McFadden, another Derrick Comedy collaborator who produced Mystery Team and also helped with the story. Eckman told the site that they’re shopping the script around to studios and production companies and if all goes as planned, this will be his next film.
Have you read the book? Are you a Mystery Team fan?