A new legal thriller could be coming to the big screen thanks to Warner Bros. The studio has acquired the screen rights to author William Landay’s hit novel Defending Jacob less than two months after its publication. The film will be produced by Mary Parent‘s through her company Disruption Entertainment. [Variety]
The hot commodity has topped the New York Times Bestellers list for hardcover fiction since mid-February. Its feature adaptation could generate some attention because of the resonate storyline, which centers around a child arrested for murder and the trial that ensues. For years the news has been fraught with school shootings and other juvenile violence, so the premise could really strike a chord with audiences. To get an idea of what to expect, see the book’s summary below, courtesy of Random House:
Summary:
Andy Barber has been an assistant district attorney in his suburban Massachusetts county for more than twenty years. He is respected in his community, tenacious in the courtroom, and happy at home with his wife, Laurie, and son, Jacob. But when a shocking crime shatters their New England town, Andy is blindsided by what happens next: His fourteen-year-old son is charged with the murder of a fellow student.
Every parental instinct Andy has rallies to protect his boy. Jacob insists that he is innocent, and Andy believes him. Andy must. He’s his father. But as damning facts and shocking revelations surface, as a marriage threatens to crumble and the trial intensifies, as the crisis reveals how little a father knows about his son, Andy will face a trial of his own—between loyalty and justice, between truth and allegation, between a past he’s tried to bury and a future he cannot conceive.
Defending Jacob marks another big project for Disruption Entertainment – the young company is also developing The Watching Hour with New Line, adaptations of The Mighty and Walter the Farting Dog at Paramount, and the sci-fi picture Hyperdrive. Parent is currently one of the producers on Guillermo Del Toro’s monster epic Pacific Rim.
No production schedule or release date has been set for Defending Jacob, but stay tuned for updates.
Have you read the novel? Can you see this making a good feature?