With his indie adaptation of Elmore Leonard's "Freaky Deaky" set to start production early next year, producer Charlie Matthau has acquired rights to another novel, James Fuerst's youth-centered "Huge."
The book follows a precocious 12-year-old boy who aspires to be a Sam Spade-esque detective.
"He wants to be a Bob Mitchum or Humphrey Bogart, and his grandmother buys his services to find out who painted a slur on her retirement home," said Matthau, describing the story.
"Along the way, he finds romance with a 12-year-old femme fatale. It's sort of 'L.A. Confidential' meets John Hughes," he added.
As for casting the adaptation, the son of the late Walter Matthau seems, well, hopeful:
"Hopefully, we'll get someone like Justin Bieber and Chloe Moretz," he said.
For "Freaky Deaky," Matthau said he recruited William H. Macy to co-star in the film about a former bomb-squad detective who descends into the seedy underbelly of 1974 Los Angeles.
