Variety reports that Sam Mendes is in "very early" discussions with Walt Disney Studios to helm a live-action version of JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH. Nick Hornby is also in negotiations to write the screenplay. The project would mark the second time the studio took on the Roald Dahl classic children's story, releasing a part live-action, part stop-motion animated version in 1996 which drew $29 million at the U.S. box office.
Originally published in 1961, the story follows "4-year-old James Henry Trotter, who lives in England with his loving parents until his parents are killed by a rhinoceros. He's taken in by his two cruel aunts and leaves several years later thanks to an old man giving him magic crocodile tongues which produce a massive single peach - which contains human-like insects who befriend James."
Mendes' credits include the two most recent James Bond installments - 2012's "Skyfall" and 2015's "Spectre," along with Road to Perdition," "Revolutionary Road" and "American Beauty," for which he won an Oscar as best director. Hornby penned the novel and screenplay adaptation for "High Fidelity," as well as the scripts for "Wild" and "Brooklyn."
If the "James and the Giant Peach" project comes to fruition, it will join a host of upcoming live-action films based on Disney animated films including, "The Little Mermaid" with Lin-Manuel Miranda and Alan Menken co-composing the music, the highly anticipated "Beauty and the Beast" starring Emma Watson, and "Cruella," with Emma Stone.
Image courtesy of Walt Disney
Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos
