Portland-based Laika Studio has tapped in-demand screenwriter Dave Kajganich to pen its adaptation of Susanna Clarke’s best-selling fantasy, Piranesi. LAIKA’s president & CEO Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings, Bumblebee), who will direct the animated feature, made the announcement today.
Piranesi is a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller which has sold over four million copies and was awarded the 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction. This latest fantasy by Clarke, who also wrote the best-seller, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, centers on a man who sets out to solve the mysteries of a fantastic house which has infinite rooms, endless corridors and thousands of statues.
“Piranesi changed my soul and is one of the books in all the world, of any era, I most cherish,” said Kajganich. “Having Travis’ and Susanna’s trust in adapting it is something I take as an honor of the highest order. They are two of the loveliest, smartest, and most humane people you can imagine, so all of this is an actual dream coming true for me.”
With a proven track record in horror and the supernatural genre, Kajganich has written, created or produced projects for every major studio. He created the critically acclaimed AMC series The Terror about the disastrous 1845 Franklin Expedition to find the Northwest Passage. He has three screenplays for director Luca Guadagnino: A Bigger Splash (2015), Suspiria (2018) and the 2022 horror romance Bones and All. His adaptation of Tim Winton’s novel The Riders, which he is producing with Ridley Scott, is set to go into production with Edward Berger directing, Brad Pitt attached to star. He will also write Be My Baby with Zendaya attached to star and Barry Jenkins directing. He is repped by UTA and Anonymous Content.
Founded in 2005 in Oregon by Travis Knight, Laika has produced five successful Oscar-nominated stop-motion features to date: Missing Link (2019), Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), The Boxtrolls (2014), ParaNorman (2012) and Coraline (2009). Laika was awarded a Scientific and Technology Oscar® in 2016 for its innovation in 3D printing. The studio is currently in production on its next animated film Wildwood. The studio is also developing the animated feature films The Night Gardener, from an original idea by Bill Dubuque, creator of the hit series Ozark.
The studio’s live-action subsidiary has a range of projects in development including feature films based on the action thriller novel Seventeen by screenwriter John Brownlow; an original script Crumble, written and directed by Brian Duffield (Spontaneous) with Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Spider-verse films) producing, and an original project from Oscar-nominated screenwriter Jon Spaihts (Dune). Captain Marvel filmmakers Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck will write and direct the studio’s live action adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s new novel Atmosphere.
You can check out a panel devoted to the studio’s rich history and talented artists at Annecy this year (Friday the 13th at Noon at Salle del la Volierre at the Imperial Palace and attend a special masterclass by writer-director Chris Butler (ParaNorman, Missing Link) Wednesday the 11th at 2:30 PM at Salle 4, MIFA Campus ).
For more info, visit www.laika.com
