Director Neil LaBute to direct an adaptation of Agatha Christie’s ‘Cooked House.’
Director Neil LaBute (‘Lakeview Terrace,’ ‘The Shape of Things’) has revealed he is set to direct an adaptation of Agatha Christie’s ‘Crooked House,’ with Julian Fellowes set to adapt the whodunnit novel.
“I somehow managed to persuade Julian to do it, even though he is so busy writing the next series of Downton. He is just a pro, and I think the period appealed to him,” says LaBute.
Screenwriter Julian Fellows told The Independent, “I love the period, I love Agatha Christie and I love the idea of reinventing it. It will be exciting to work with a really vivid, contemporary director – he’s one of the originals around at the moment.”
First published in 1949, ‘Crooked House’ follows Charles Hayward, the story’s first person narrator, whose fiance refuses to marry him until her grandfather’s murder is solved. Desperate for her hand in marriage, he begins his own investigation.
Before focusing on the adaptation, Fellowes, who took home Oscar for his ‘Gosford Park’ screenplay, will be finishing up the second installment of the critically acclaimed series ‘Downton Abbey.’
The screenplay writer also had his ‘Titanic’ mini-series greenlit. Deadline reports that the internationally produced project will start filming in Hungary in the spring. Featuring fictional and historical characters, ‘Titanic’ will chronicle the famous ship’s maiden and final voyage through multiple points of view.