Jan 18, 2005 - It was only a matter of time before the film rights to Alice Sebold's best-selling novel, "The Lovely Bones," were snatched up. Though the project was shopped around to studios, most felt it would be too difficult to bring the story to life in a movie. Fans of the book may take heart in knowing filmmaker Peter Jackson and his partner Fran Walsh have purchased the rights - with their own money - to bring the popular novel to the big screen.
According to Variety, Jackson and Walsh purchased the rights to "The Lovely Bones" and will complete a script and work out a budget before shopping the film around to studios.
"The Lovely Bones" follows the story of 14 year-old Susie Salmon who was raped and murdered. Susie narrates the story as she watches the people she knew and loved from her vantage point in Heaven.
"The Lovely Bones" is a break from the sort of films Jackson's been tied to lately. His hugely successful "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and the much-anticipated "King Kong," due out in May 2005, set him up as a major player in Hollywood and in fantasy films. With "The Lovely Bones," Jackson returns to a more intimate style of storytelling.
Jackson told Variety the most difficult part of adapting "The Lovely Bones" will be figuring out how to convey Susie in Heaven. "It's cleverly not described that well in the book, because Alice wanted your imagination to do the work and decide what Susie's heaven looks and feels like," Jackson told Variety. "We will have to show something on film. It has to be somehow ethereal and emotional, but it can't be hokey."
Peter Jackson is currently at work on "King Kong," starring Naomi Watts, Jack Black, and Adrien Brody. Jackson and Walsh plan to begin work on "The Lovely Bones" once "King Kong" has wrapped, with an eye at releasing "The Lovely Bones" in Fall 2007.
SOURCE: Variety
