Tony McNamara, the Oscar-nominated co-writer of the period drama The Favourite, is in negotiations to reteam with the film’s director, Yorgos Lanthimos, to adapt the Gothic Western novel The Hawkline Monster.
New Regency is behind the project, which also has a bevy of producers on board. Roy Lee, one of the producers behind the horror hit It, Andrew Trapani (Winchester) and Steven Schneider, who last worked on Pet Sematary, are producing Hawkline Monster. Lanthimos will also produce with Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe of Element Pictures, the shingle behind Lanthimos' films The Killing of a Sacred Deer and The Lobster, as well as The Favourite.
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The book, written by Richard Brautigan and first published in 1974, tells of two unlikely hero gunslingers hired by a 15-year-old girl named Magic Child to kill the monster that lives in ice caves under the basement of a house inhabited by a young woman named Miss Hawkline. What follows is a unique adventure where there is more to Magic Child, Miss Hawkline and the house than meets the eye.
The project has a decades-in-the-making history that saw Hal Ashby try to mount an adaptation for Jack Nicholson and Dustin Hoffman, and later Jeff and Beau Bridges, to star. Tim Burton also tried his hand at an adaptation.
Paul Swensen and Ianthe Brautigan will executive produce Hawkline Monster, while Natalie Lehmann will oversee for New Regency.
McNamara is in the limelight these days as he is the creator, showrunner, and executive producer of the period comedic drama The Great, which debuted last week on Hulu. The 10-episode series stars Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult.
The Favourite, which McNamara wrote with Deborah Davis, earned the scribe not only an Academy Award nomination for best original screenplay but also nabbed him a best screenplay win at the British Independent Film Awards, a BAFTA Film Award for best original screenplay and screenwriter of the year honors at the London Film Critics’ Circle Awards.
In addition, McNamara wrote the most recent drafts of Disney’s upcoming film Cruella that stars Favourite actress Emma Stone.
He is repped by Thruline and Kate Richter at HLA Management in Australia.
