Bond producers buy film rights to `A Steady Rain`

It's been a solid few months for playwright Keith Huff, writes the Hollywood Reporter.

First, A-list Hollywood talent Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman signed on to star in his play, "A Steady Rain," which begins Broadway previews Sept. 10 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre ahead of a Sept. 27 opening.

Now, Huff has sold the film rights to producer Frederick Zollo and James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, who are among the play's producers.

Huff will adapt the screenplay. The deal is for mid-six figures against $1 million.

The play's press notes describe "Rain" as "a new American play that tells the story of two Chicago cops who are lifelong friends and their differing accounts of a few harrowing days that changed their lives forever." The conflict stems from their involvement in a domestic dispute in a poor neighborhood.

"Rain" began its stage life in 2006 and had its professional world premiere in 2007 at Chicago Dramatists. The Broadway run, directed by John Crowley, will play a limited 12-week engagement through Dec. 6.

The play marks the Broadway debut for Craig, a Royal National Theatre veteran in London who also has starred in the past two Bond films, "Casino Royale" and "Quantum of Solace," for Broccoli and Wilson.

Huff, repped by Gersh, manager John Bauman and attorney Karl Austen, has written two other plays, "The Detective's Wife" and "Tell Us of the Night," which complete a trilogy that begins with "Rain." Although Craig and Jackman have not been cast in the film version, the producers might be eyeing a potential franchise for two stars with huge international appeal and proven dramatic chops.

Broccoli, Wilson and Zollo teamed to field the 2005 musical production of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."

Huff also has written the plays "Pursued by Happiness," "Gray City" and "The Bird and Mr. Banks."

Discuss this news here...