Peter Hedges may be the best screenwriter you don't know anything about right now. The novelist and sometimes director was responsible for both the book and screenplay of What's Eating Gilbert Grape, then moved on to adaptations with About A Boy and played writer-director for both Pieces of April and Dan in Real Life. Last month he published his first book in a decade, The Heights, and its already on its way to getting the movie treatment as well.
Variety reports that Hedges will adapt, produce and direct the movie version of his own novel, about a moderately well-off family in Brooklyn Heights and their encounters with the truly rich people surrounding them. Focus Features has picked up the rights and will distribute the film domestically. The story sounds totally up Focus's alley, high-class and maybe a little quirky, and Hedges has proven over and over again he's good at writing about wealthy people without making you loathe them. Sounds like a good fit all around-- and as a new-ish resident of Brooklyn, it's probably high time I pick up the book.
