Benedict Cumberbatch's SunnyMarch and its part-owner, Studiocanal, have acquired film rights to Matt Haig's upcoming novel, How to Stop Time. Deadline reported that Cumberbatch will star in the project and executive produce through SunnyMarch with Jamie Byng of Canongate Books.
Studiocanal U.K. CEO Danny Perkins said: "We are delighted to be continuing our successful relationship with Matt Haig as well as build upon our long-running and dynamic partnership with SunnyMarch, Benedict Cumberbatch and Adam Ackland. This compelling novel will make for a powerful film that falls in line with Studiocanal's ongoing commitment to British talent, storytelling and production."
Haig's most recent children's book, The Girl Who Saved Christmas, is the sequel to A Boy Called Christmas. Studiocanal and Blueprint Pictures own screen rights to the series and are in development on a feature adaptation, Deadline noted.
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The Ink Factory and Rise Films have partnered with Film4 to develop The American War, which is based on Decent Interval, "the bestselling and controversial memoir by CIA operative-turned-whistleblower Frank Snepp, and his autobiography Irreparable Harm," Deadline reported. Tom Morton-Smith is writing the screenplay. Development will be overseen by producers Rhodri Thomas for the Ink Factory, Teddy Leifer for Rise Films and executive Sam Lavender for Film4.
"I feel deeply privileged to be partnered with such innovative filmmakers on a project so close to my heart and so important in illuminating one of the darker moments of a war whose lessons have never been so timely," said Snepp.
Leifer and Thomas added: "Frank Snepp's Decent Interval reminds us of the urgent need to speak truth to power. This story resonates now, more than ever, and we are proud to bring it to a wider audience through the hugely talented Tom Morton-Smith."