Well – at least somebody's in talks to direct the whole thing! The Graveyard Book still sounds like a perfect (read: huge) project for Disney so this news is not some huge surprise: Ron Howard is apparently in some serious talks with the studio to come on board and direct a live action version of the novel! For more details – check out the rest of this report!
So, according to THR, A Beautiful Mind helmer Ron Howard is in negotiations to direct a live-action movie based on Neil Gaiman‘s fantasy novel The Graveyard Book.
And yes, you're reading this correctly – Howard wants to direct a live action version of the novel! In other words, previously attached director Henry Selick and his stop-motion project is no longer an option!
They also add that Howard will oversee the writing of a new script, while Gil Netter, a veteran producer with adaptations including Marley & Me and Life of Pi among his credits, is producing with Ben Browning.
In case you're not so familiar with Gaiman's novel, here's a little description:
Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead. There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy-an ancient Indigo Man beneath the hill, a gateway to a desert leading to an abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod's family…
We'll keep an eye on this project, that's for sure, so make sure you stay tuned for more updates!
