The trend of Hollywood studios optioning unpublished books is continuing. But at least this time it makes sense. When you’ve got a guy like Joshua Ferris, whose last novel is up for the National Book Award, and you like what you’ve read of his next book, you might as well snatch that shit up.
And that’s what Scott Rudin and Miramax have done with The Unnamed, Ferris’s previously mentioned upcoming novel. The book is about, Variety says, “a man who comes down with a mysterious affliction that fractures his family.” Intriguing?
Rudin sure does love himself some books. It seems like he’s always optioning this book or that, and it usually works out pretty well (at least these did: No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Notes on a Scandal, The Queen and The Hours). Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m not somewhat skeptical of the source.
While I think National Book Award finalists probably deserve the benefit of the doubt, the book for which he is nominated, the satirical Then We Came to the End, which is being adapted at HBO, is his first novel. It is possible that he could experience a bit of a sophomore slump as he transitions to what appears to be heavier material. Of course, if Rudin can maneuver the right director and screenwriter into taking on the project, the book could be lamer than the holy water I get in the mail and still make for an excellent film. We’ll just have to wait and see.