They have the most expensive and most-watched series in HBO’s history in the palm of their hands, so it is no surprise that Game of Thrones creators and showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff have other creative plans in store. We’re hearing today that duo plan to partner on writing and directing duties for a film adaptation of the crime thriller, Dirty White Boys. They’re signed on to adapt the novel for Fox, but the project may not see much progress until after they wrap up their Emmy-winning HBO series.
Stephen Hunter’s 1995 novel tells the story of Bud Pewtie, a lone state trooper who hunts down three dangerous convicts after they escape from a penitentiary in the Midwest. The author, also a noted film critic for the Washington Post, wrote Point of Impact, which was later adapted into the Mark Wahlberg thriller Shooter.
So, how did two of the hottest writers in the business decide on adapting this title?
“We started talking about lines we were jealous of before it came around to the familiar topic of greatest opening lines in novels,” Benioff says. “Our friend Scott Frank [screenwriter of Out of Sight and Minority Report] brought up the opening line of Dirty White Boys. To be honest, I’d never hear of the book before, even though we’d heard of Stephen Hunter’s sniper series. Scott mentioned that opening line from Dirty White Boys, and it made me go out and buy the book, and Dan bought the book, and then we got past that first line and just fell in love with it.”
Weiss also commented on the novel, saying that it grabs you due to the great characters:
“It does grab you,” he says. “What keeps you is that the characters are so well drawn, really charismatic and awful people, so flawed. I don’t think you’ll be able to print the first line, because it’s got prison soaked racism and is just really out there.”
With Benioff already a noted author and screenwriter (25th Hour), and a project that should have a flare for the same type of lurid violence featured on Game of Thrones, Dirty White Boys is one to look out for. Even if it may not see production until their fantasy epic has wrapped, until then, there is always the novel. If the opening line stuns the two men behind Game of Thrones like Weiss says it does, the best of luck to you on getting past the first few pages.
