Sarah Polley to Adapt, Possibly Direct John Green's 'Looking for Alaska'

With The Fault In Our Stars breaking hearts and proving to be very successful financially, author John Green is more in demand than ever. Already plans are underway to adapt his book, Paper Towns, with 'Fault' screenwriters Michael Weber and Scott Neustadter joining co-star Nat Wolff. And now Paramount Pictures is hoping to ride the Green wave, hiring Sarah Polley to bring his debut novel Looking for Alaska to the screen.

Deadline reports Polley, who has done excellent work on Take This Waltz, Away from Her, and Stories We Tell, will write the screenplay with the chance she could direct. And this is a project she really wanted, making a strong pitch to the studio in order to land the gig. Paramount's been sitting on this one for awhile but with Green such a hot commodity they've decided now is the right time.

Here's the books official synopsis:

Before. Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps” even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. . . .

After. Nothing is ever the same.

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Sarah Polley to adapt historical novel 'Alias Grace' for the big screen

In the world of the NFL, there are certain players you can spot that are always just a little bit smarter than everybody else. They may not have the same physical gifts, but when you watch them you know they're destined to be a head coach or something. Similarly, Sarah Polley has always had that way about her as an actress that you just knew she'd be a director some day. Turns out, she's a damn good one. Her debut feature, the heartbreaking Away From Her, established her as filmmaker to watch. Her follow-up, Take This Waltz, was another relationship drama starring Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen, based on Polley's own screenplay. I'm dying to check it out and have heard pretty good things.

For her next film, Polley is jumping feet first into another adaptation, prepping a screen version of Margaret Atwood's historical novel, Alias Grace.  The story is based on a true life 19th century double murder, and follows Grace Marks, who was convicted of killing of killing a wealthy landowner and his mistress.

No word on when this will kick off, but it looks like another bold move for the Canadian actress. The only thing that sucks is that it's kind of come at the expense of her acting career. The last film she starred in was Trigger, directed by Bruce McDonald. Before that was the weird sci-fi flick, Splice, opposite Adrien Brody. [THR]

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