A film adaptation of Jeff Brown’s beloved children’s book Flat Stanley has been in the works over at Fox for some time now, but today brings news that the project is finally moving forward with a new director and pair of writers. Josh Greenbaum, who previously directed a golf documentary titled The Short Game, has signed on to helm. Additionally, Chad Damiani and J.P. Lavin will re-write the film, which is being envisioned as a live-action take, working from an earlier draft by Adam Goldberg (Aliens in the Attic, ABC’s The Goldbergs) and Chris Bishop (The Goldbergs).
Flat Stanley (first published way back in 1964) centers on a boy named Stanley Lambchop, who is accidentally flattened by a bulletin board but uses his new paper-thin body to explore many extraordinary places. The book is considered to be a classic and has birthed an entire series, so Fox could have a franchise on its hands if this project comes together.
Though Greenbaum seems like an odd choice to direct, he previously helmed an episode of The Goldbergs, which Goldberg created and Bishop has written multiple episodes for.
For their part, Damiani and Lavin have been popping up quite a bit lately. The duo is probably best known in Hollywood for a script called Kamikaze Love, which made the Black List for most popular but unproduced screenplays back in 2007. Screen Gems eventually snagged Kamikaze Love, and the project is still set up there. Damiani and Lavin also recently wrote How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack, working from Chuck Sambuchino’s book, for Sony Animation and Robert Zemeckis’s ImageMovers. The duo has two other scripts in development as well – they penned Mattel toy adaptation Max Steel for Paramount and wrote Capeshooters for Warner Bros., which has Bryan Singer producing.
The duo have been busy on the small screen, too, adapting classic Western series The Cisco Kid into a CBS series that will be produced by Salma Hayek and Lauren Shuler Donner. And now, with news that Fox has recruited them for Flat Stanley, expect Damiani and Lavin to become more popular than ever.
No cast or release date have been announced for Flat Stanley, but we’ll keep you posted as more on this project unfolds.
