.png)
3 hours ago
2 ARTICLE AD
EXCLUSIVE: Fifth Season is nearing a deal to produce A Ladder to the Sky, a feature adaptation of the 2018 novel by John Boyne, with two-time Emmy winner Johan Renck (Chernobyl) in talks to direct. Fresh off of eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, for his papal thriller Conclave, Edward Berger is among the other producers.
A Ladder to the Sky is described as a thrilling drama about an ambitious, handsome young writer who manipulates, seduces, and plagiarizes his way to literary stardom. His obsession with climbing the ranks sends him journeying through the Amalfi Coast, Manhattan, London, and beyond — but the higher he climbs, the further he has to fall.
Published by The Hogarth Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House, the book was shortlisted for Novel of the Year at the 2018 Irish Book Awards.
Renck will work from a script by BAFTA nominee Andres Heinz (Black Swan) and the team of Mickey Downs & Konrad Kay, who created the hit HBO series Industry. Fifth Season will produce alongside Ray Pictures’ Rhodri Thomas and Alexei Boltho, Nine Hours, Renck and Michael Parets of Sinestra, and Berger.
Renck is best known for directing and co-exec producing Chernobyl, the smash hit limited series for HBO, which earned him Emmys for Outstanding Limited Series and Directing, as well as BAFTA, PGA, and DGA Awards. Also BAFTA-nominated for directing action-crime series The Last Panthers, his past feature credits include directing and executive producing the Netflix sci-fi adventure Spaceman, starring Adam Sandler and Carey Mulligan, and directing Downloading Nancy, which was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and the Sundance Grand Jury Prize.
Boyne has authored 20 novels and a collection of short stories, seeing his work be published in 58 languages. He’s perhaps best known for The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, the #1 New York Times bestselling Holocaust drama, which was adapted for film by Mark Herman, with Miramax handling U.S. distribution.
Currently in post on The Ballad of a Small Player, a gambling drama for Netflix, starring Colin Farrell and Tilda Swinton, Berger went out to market last fall with The Barrier, a time travel film to star Austin Butler. 20th Century Studios landed the project in a heated bidding war in November, as we told you first.
Fifth Season’s film slate, overseen by Christopher Slager, also includes Andrew DeYoung’s Friendship, starring Paul Rudd, Tim Robinson, and Kate Mara, for A24; Stephen Chbosky’s comedy Nonnas, starring Vince Vaughn, for Netflix; and David Ayer’s A Working Man, starring Jason Statham, for Amazon MGM. Currently, they’re prepping Netflix’s Animals, to star and be directed by Ben Affleck, while completing post on The Beast, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Joel Kinnaman.
Renck is represented by WME, Casarotto Ramsay, Black Bear, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern; Downs by Curtis Brown Group and UTA; Kay by Independent Talent Group and UTA; Boyne by WME and The Artists Partnership; and Berger by CAA, Casarotto Ramsay & Associates, Range Media Partners, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.
