Oscar-nominated screenwriter Alessandro Camon (The messenger) has signed on to film the Italian psychological thriller You will find the words (Le parole lo sanno) for the screen.
British director Peter Webber (Woman with a pearl earring, Hannibal rises) has been linked to direct the film, which Rome-based Fenix Entertainment is producing.
Franzoso’s novel revolves around a man with a terminal illness who has a chance encounter with a woman on a park bench, an encounter that leads to an extreme act of violence.
Camon told News Kidda Fenix approached him about the adjustment and introduced him to Webber.
“We clicked right away,” he notes, calling Webber a “Renaissance man.” He’s a cosmopolitan, he likes a lot of genres and languages, and he really likes what he does.”
Like the book, the film adaptation of Franzoso’s novel will be set in Italy, but will have an English-speaking lead character and will be mostly shot in English. It will be a loose adjustment.
“When we presented our ideas to Franzoso, he gave us carte blanche,” Camon says. While sticking to the original’s “noir” roots, Camon said the film version will “deepen and study the characters” in the book.
“The center of everything is this [idea that this] totally random encounter can change the life of characters: two people, totally different from each other and complete strangers, different ages, living different lives meet [on the park bench] and are ready to open up to each other.”
Camon says he has delivered the first draft of the script and that shooting will begin next year. After working for Hollywood for several years —besides The messengerCamon wrote the script for Walter Hill’s 2012 thriller Bullet through the head and for Steve Buscemi .’s upcoming drama The listener starring Tessa Thompson and Rebecca Hall – Camon said he was looking forward to returning to Italy.
“Today we have authors like Paolo Sorrentino, Luca Guadagnino and Stefano Sollima making films for a worldwide audience, not just for Italy, and that makes me happy.”
novel by Franzoso Hungry Hearts formed the basis for Saverio Costanzo’s English-language romantic thriller of the same name, starring Adam Driver and Alba Rohrwacher, which won the leading role for Best Actor and Best Acting at the 2014 Venice Film Festival.
Fenix Entertainment recently produced Andrea Pallaoro’s Monica starring Trace Lysette, Emily Browning and Patricia Clarkson, which premiered in Venice this year.
You Will Find the Words marks a return to directing by Webber, who recently helmed the high-quality historical drama series in Arabic. Kingdoms of Fire and the ITV miniseries Tutankhamun.