TriStar Preemptively Acquires Rights To Novel ‘The Wedding People’ For Will Speck And Josh Gordon To Direct, Nicole Holofcener To Adapt
29.02.2024 - 19:28
/ deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: Following a bidding war, TriStar Pictures has beaten out a number of suitors and pre-emptively acquired rights to AlisonEspach’s forthcoming novel The Wedding People. Will Speck and Josh Gordon, who have a first-look deal with Sony Pictures, are set to direct, with Oscar-nominated screenwriter Nicole Holofcener writing.
“It’s rare to read something that feels like real life, in all the best ways. .. funny, painful, cathartic and lasting. A throwback to the movies we grew up on with a modern sensibility. This is a story we can’t wait to tell,” said Speck and Gordon.
Speck, Gordon and Eric Fineman will produce through their company Speck + Gordon Inc. alongside Jonathan King and Ash Sarohia for Concordia Studio. Shary Shirazi and Kelseigh Coombs are overseeing the project for TriStar.
“Nicole is the perfect partner to adapt this incredible novel. She writes characters that are beautifully complex, with humor and pathos and we’ve wanted to work with her since before there were iPhones,” said Speck and Gordon.
The novel follows Phoebe, who after a chance encounter becomes an unexpected wedding guest after befriending the bride in an elevator, changing the course of both women’s lives forever. Henry Holt & Co. will publish the novel in July.
“The Wedding People goes behind the scenes of a glossy destination wedding with two strong women seeking to take charge of their lives. With incredible humor and wit, the book expertly captures how a perfect stranger can sometimes be just the partner you need to get through a crisis,” said King and Sarohia.
Gordon and Speck most recently directed Sony’s live-action musical adaptation of the children’s book Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile. They are also the creators and showrunners