ERIN BROCKOVICH Writer To Adapt THE 5th WAVE
Susannah Grant, the writer of Erin Brockovich and writer/director of Catch and Release, has been hired to adapt Rick Yancey's The 5th Wave for Tobey Maguire's production company Material Pictures.
The 5th Wave is the new YA hit of the summer, and I liked it quite a bit. (Read the book review at our sister site FYA.) It's the first in a planned trilogy (obviously. It's YA, after all), but it's not about vampires or angels or dystopian steampunk rebels or some shit: it's about aliens. Really nasty, mean-spirited aliens who are terrifyingly organized in their approach to conquering humanity. On the run from these bastards is Cassie, a girl whose only extraordinary quality is that she is still somehow alive while the rest of the world has seemingly vanished. And of course there's a love triangle because there's always a damn love triangle, but this one is...different. It's super weird and ballsy and I like it.
I think what's interesting about a 5th Wave movie is that it has the potential to be seriously scary if handled well. The book has some great action, but I hope the film isn't approached as an actioner so much as a really creepy sci-fi thriller. But either way, I'm excited Grant's writing it - as THR points out, she's a high-profile script doctor and a great writer on her own merits. And Cassie is such a solid character, someone to whom I think Grant can do true justice. She's not a Katniss or a Bella, a born hero or victim. She's just a girl, a smart, introspective, scared as hell girl who's surviving because she has to, just trucking along in the face of unbelievable odds and overwhelming trauma. When I first started reading the book, I didn't pay attention to the author's name and was later surprised to discover it was written by a man, because Cassie reads as more authentically teenage girl than two female writers (Suzanne Collins and Stephanie Meyer, namely) have even come close to accomplishing. For that reason, even though Yancey managed just fine as a man, I'm glad the film will be written by a woman.
Have you guys read The 5th Wave, or is the mere YAness of it an automatic turn off? Give it a shot! I promise it's hardly ever mushy!
