You got to feel for a director who was stuck in the predicament that Douglas McGrath was in. His last outing as a director must have been hell. Despite getting the chance to make a film on a flamboyant character in American literature, Infamous, his film on Truman Capote was a second place finisher to Oscar-winning Capote. The project stalled for a year, and then WIP put it to sleep before Toby Jones had a chance to make the rounds and make the argument that two Capotes could indeed co-exist. Jones was solid, and the film was technically sound.
If McGrath wants to avoid further bad luck, he’ll make a title change request with the project he just embarked on – Variety reports that the director will helm The Lucky One – not to be confused with The Lucky Ones (that Iraq war flick with Rachel Adams). Warner Bros. is set to back a Nicholas Sparks bestseller with Denise Di Novi, who has produced three other Sparks book to screen projects with “Nights in Rodanthe,” “A Walk to Remember” and “Message in a Bottle.” McGrath will work and revise from a Will Fetters’ script. This is McGrath’s fourth book-to-film project.
The book/pic centers on a Marine who survives three tours in Iraq. He attributes his good fortune to a photograph he carried of a woman he has never met, and he sets out to meet his good-luck charm when he returns to North Carolina. The film will appeal to sensitive hearts and minds.
