#‘Caster’: Akiva Goldsman to Produce Film Adaptation of Magic-Themed YA Novel

Caster, a magic-themed young adult novel which hit shelves last year, is getting the movie treatment at Paramount Pictures.

The studio is developing a film version of author Elsie Chapman’s novel, which is described by the writer as “Fight Club meets magic.” The movie is set be produced by Scholastic Entertainment, Josephson Entertainment, and Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind, Batman & Robin) and his Weed Road Pictures.

Goldsman, who has become one of the most prolific producers at Paramount over the past several years and has his fingers in nearly every major franchise there, will produce the Caster movie adaptation alongside Greg Lessans, Iole Lucchese, Caitlin Friedman, Barry Josephson, and D. Matt Geller, according to Variety. Here’s part of the book’s synopsis, courtesy of Amazon:

Aza Wu knows that real magic is dangerous and illegal. After all, casting killed her sister, Shire. As with all magic, everything comes at a price. For Aza, it feels like everything in her life has some kind of cost attached to it. Her sister had been casting for money to pay off Saint Willow, the gang leader that oversees her sector of Lotusland. If you want to operate a business there, you have to pay your tribute. And now with Shire dead, Aza must step in to save the legacy of Wu Teas, the teahouse that has been in her family for centuries.

Goldsman has an iffy record when it comes to adaptations. He has overseen bad-to-disastrous versions of Jonah Hex, King Arthur, and The Dark Tower – and that’s just his producing work. As a writer, he has credits on Lost in Space, Batman & Robin, The Divergent Series: Insurgent, The 5th Wave, Rings, and Transformers: The Last Knight. But despite that run of middling work, he’s still one of Paramount’s go-to guys, so here we are again, staring down the barrel of another project he’s associated with.

“Caster is a wildly imaginative vision of an Earth infused with magic, but with a very grounded and contemporary heroine at its core,” Goldsman said in a statement, and Lucchese called it “an absolutely thrilling story with twists and turns that keep readers riveted and holding their breath to see what happens next.”

There’s no word on when this adaptation will get underway, but while we wait to learn more, here’s a cool little interview with Elsie Chapman about the book:

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