EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros Pictures is in negotiations for the feature film rights to Allen Levi‘s breakout novel Theo of Golden, a word-of-mouth juggernaut bestseller that has established the first-time author as a publishing phenomenon as he nears 70. Deal is being papered I’m told, and Tom Hanks is in talks to play the title character.
Gil Netter, Gary Goetzman and Hanks will produce, and the author will be executive producer. Jesse Ehrman and Sheila Walcott are overseeing the project for Warner Bros. The team credits literary affairs executive Ian Dalrymple for flagging the project to the studio.
Set in the fictional town of Golden, a man named Theo arrives and purchases pencil portraits of locals that are displayed in a coffee shop. He returns them to each subject, and these visits reveal stories and relationships, and they lead to Theo to come to terms with tragedy in his past.
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Theo of Golden started its book trajectory in the most modest way possible. It was self-published in 2023 with little fanfare or promotion, by a first-time author who veered from a law career to making music from on an island he lives on in Georgia. The novel caught on slowly through word of mouth, aided by the herculean efforts of his niece Aron Ritchie, who found ways to increase the book’s visibility. This backstory I gleaned from a profile in the Washington Post, one of several publications like the Wall Street Journal and New York Times that sparked to Levi’s unlikely success story and wrote features. When Oprah Winfrey featured the author and his book on her podcast, things mushroomed.
The book was published wide by Simon & Schuster last October and has sold over 3.5 million copies stateside. It has been published in 43 languages and was a No. 1 bestseller in places like the Netherlands, Italy and the UK. Now it will be headed for the big screen, following the trajectory of books like Robert James Waller’s The Bridges of Madison County and a few others. Like that novel, Theo of Golden is particularly popular with a mature crowd of readers.
Netter is best known for producing homespun book-to-film adaptations including Marley & Me, The Blind Side, Life of Pi, Just Mercy, The Shack and Water for Elephants.
Playtone partners Goetzman and Hanks finished Greyhound 2, scripted by and starring Hanks, with Aaron Schneider once again directing. The Playtone partners are next prepping The Comebacker, which Marielle Heller is directing. Hanks stars in that film as the pitching coach of the New York Mets, and the film is about a young pitcher — Callum Turner is set to play him — whose life and career are shattered when he is struck by a batted ball after delivering a pitch. Sony acquired that film, which is based on a Dave Eggers short story that Heller adapted into a script.
Turner reunites with Hanks and Goetzman with the actor after his turn in the Apple epic World War II miniseries Masters of the Air. The Comebacker will shoot in early fall.
Levi is repped by WME, and Hanks by CAA.
