James Wan Colors with The Boy Who Drew Monsters
Steve Barton
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James Wan is one in-demand and busy dude lately. Rightfully so, of course! Today THR is reporting that in a competitive situation, New Line has preemptively picked up the movie rights to The Boy Who Drew Monsters, a horror novel by Keith Donohue, for an adaptation to be produced by The Conjuring and Furious 7 director.
Ian Goldberg and Richard Naing, who penned Emile Hirsch’s recently wrapped indie horror film The Autopsy of Jane Doe, are on board to write the adaptation.
The book, published in 2014 by Picador, centered on a 10-year-old boy who suffers from Asperger’s as well as agoraphobia. But he also develops the ability to bring to life whatever he draws, which unfortunately happens to be monsters. The boy’s best friend, his parents ,and a priest’s housekeeper figure into the story as they all try to help the boy in a book that is described as part drama, part ghost story, and part creature feature.
Wan will produce with Michael Clear, who heads production at Wan’s Atomic Monster and brought the book in to the label. Atomic Monster has a first-look deal with New Line, but that is for low-budget horror projects. This project falls outside of the deal. Richard Brener, Walter Hamada, and Dave Neustadter will oversee.
Wan is currently in production on The Conjuring 2 and is also developing Aquaman for DC.
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