Thanks to the enormous successes of “Harry Potter” and “Twilight”, book-to-movie adaptations have become a hot commodity in Hollywood in recent years, and many a young unknown actor has catapulted from obscurity to overnight fame thanks in no small part to playing a character already beloved by a built-in fanbase. Sure, the obvious names like Daniel Radcliffe and Robert Pattinson apply here, but even adaptations that amount to slightly smaller successes have garnered a leg up for lesser known actors. “Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief” didn’t do much box office but star Logan Lerman’s name has risen. And love him or hate him, adaptations of Nicholas Sparks novels have granted Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, Mandy Moore and even Miley Cyrus higher profiles.
And while Sparks has helped a successful career or two (Zac Efron will try his luck next, starring in an adaptation of “The Lucky One”), the real starmaker lies in female-centric teen genre fare, in particular love stories that have an element of danger thanks to some kind of supernatural twist. Taylor Lautner will hop from one franchise to another, starring in an adaptation of “Incarceron”, while Lily Collins will bring beloved teen heroine Clary Fray to life in “The Mortal Instruments: The City of Bones”, and Alex Pettyfer may join her (or he may do “The Last Apprentice” instead). And is there any doubt whoever ends up being cast as Katniss in the adaptation of “The Hunger Games” will hit Kristen Stewart fame levels?
The next teen love story with a supernatural component hoping to be the next “Twilight” or “Harry Potter” is Lauren Oliver’s best-selling novel “Delirium”, as Deadline reports Fox 2000, the same company who grabbed “Incarceron” for Lautner, has bought the rights to adapt. The studio also signed a first-look deal with Oliver’s own publishing house Paper Lantern, including all of Oliver’s future books and the current slate of 13 novels. Set in a futuristic dystopian society where love is treated as a curable disease and compassion and affection are considered weaknesses, “Delirium” follows 17-year-old Lena Haloway, who is content in the only world she knows, but is, of course, thrown off balance when she meets a boy. The confident and mysterious Alex makes her heart flutter in a way that has her beginning to question the powers that tightly control the world she lives in, eventually leading her to put everything she loves in jeopardy for the chance at true freedom.
Oliver’s novel “Before I Fall”, about a high school girl who relives her last day on earth, is also being adapted for Fox 2000 by Maria Maggenti. Fox 2000’s Carla Hacken is supervising both projects.
