Before his Jurassic World opened (and before it became the third-highest grossing film of all time), it was revealed that director Colin Trevorrow has plans to next adapt an original screenplay from bestselling novelist Gregg Hurwitz with a feature titled Book of Henry. Although the plot of Henry is still a mystery, Deadline reveals that two-time Academy Award nominee Naomi Watts (The Impossible, Mulholland Drive) is signing on to play the lead.
“‘Book of Henry’ is a remarkable piece of screenwriting that has stuck with me for years,” said Trevorrow when the project was first announced earlier this year. “I feel very fortunate to be able to tell this story. It is a true original.”
Hurwitz is a New York Times and internationally bestselling author of fourteen novels including “Don’t Look Back,” “You’re Next,” and “Tell No Lies.” Hurwitz recently signed on to adapt his own novel Orphan X for Warner Bros. Bradley Cooper is producing that film and will potentially star as well.
Naomi Watts has been quite busy as of late. Last year, she starred in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Academy Award-winning Birdman, Noah Baumbach’s comedy-drama While We’re Young and Theodore Melfi’s St. Vincent, opposite Bill Murray. This year, Naomi Watts made a debut apperance The Divergent Series: Insurgent with plans to reprise her role in the series’ final two films, Allegiant – Part 1 and Allegiant – Part 2. She’ll also soon appear opposite Matthew McConaughey and Ken Watanabe in Gus Van Sant’s Sea of Trees and will play a leading role in Errol Morris’ first narrative feature, Holland, Michigan.
Book of Henry will begin shooting in New York in September of this year with Sidney Kimmel Entertainment set to independently finance and co-produce the film with Double Nickel Entertainment. Sidney Kimmel will produce, along with Double Nickel’s Jenette Kahn and Adam Richman (Gran Torino). SKE’s Carla Hacken and Jim Tauber are executive producers.
