Game Of Thrones Director Michelle MacLaren To Helm The Nightingale

Michelle MacLaren, the writer-director who has helmed multiple episodes of Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad, has inked a deal to adapt The Nightingale for TriStar.

Variety has the scoop, confirming that MacLaren will transition Kristin Hannah’s acclaimed WWII novel onto the big screen. In doing so, the filmmaker will be working from a script penned by Ann Peacock, after John Sayles and MacLaren herself contributed to previous drafts. Elizabeth Cantillon, meanwhile, is attached to produce.

Set during the throes of World War II, The Nightingale chronicles the story of two sisters leaving in occupied France circa 1939. Hannah’s historical novel then becomes a tale of survival as the quiet French village of Carriveau becomes swept up in the devastation.

Here’s an extract of the book’s official synopsis:

In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France … but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne’s home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.

MacLaren, who was once attached to Wonder Woman over at Warner Bros. before creative differences pushed her away from the superhero project, will look to jump-start production on The Nightingale at some point next year.