Will write and direct the adaptation.
Variety is reporting that award-winning Irish filmmaker Kealan O’Rourke has been tapped to write and direct an adaptation of Brian Selznick’s young adult novel ‘The Houdini Box.’
The book, published in 1991, centres on “a young boy and aspiring magician who meets his idol Harry Houdini at a train station and begs the famed illusionist to explain his tricks, eliciting a promise from Houdini to write. The boy finally receives a letter inviting him to Houdini’s house — only to discover that Houdini died that day and left him a mysterious, locked box.”
‘The Houdini Box’ will be produced by Peter Chernin and Jenno Topping, with Kerry Foster overseeing the project for Chernin Entertainment. O’Rourke is currently in the process of developing feature length adaptation of his 2011 award-winning short ‘The Boy in the Bubble.’ He’s also attached to write and direct an animated adaptation of the upcoming graphic novel ‘Bolivar’ for Warner Bros and producer Akiva Goldsman.
You can check some of the filmmaker’s work over at his official site www.kealanorourke.com