Disney is re-teaming with screenwriter Martin Hynes on a comedy about a town where everyone wins the lottery except one person, with an eye to developing the project for Steve Carell, individuals close to the project have told TheWrap.
The project is based on a New York Times article by Suzanne Daley about a Spanish town of 70 houses where everyone wins the lottery but one man. The jackpot was worth $950 million.
The NYT article, titled “In Spanish Village, Everyone’s a Winner, Almost,” was reported from Sodeto, Spain last January.
Jocelyn Diaz and Erin Westerman are overseeing the film for the studio.
Another Disney project written by Hynes, “Imagining Nathan,” is getting strong buzz at the studio. It tells the story of a six-year-old boy who retreats into a fantasy world after his parents are killed. As an adult, the condition that he develops causes him to live in a cartoon-like world.
Hynes recent credits include the Fox project, “The Magician’s Elephant,” which is an adaptation of Kate DeCamillo’s children’s story. His past films include “Stealing Harvard” and “The Go Go-Getter.” Hynes is repped by Original Artists.
Carell will also star in Disney ‘s “Alexander And the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” which the studio picked up in turnaround from Fox last month. He is represented by WME.
