JT Mollner, the filmmaker behind last year’s cult hit “Strange Darling” and the screenwriter of this year’s Stephen King adaptation “The Long Walk,” will adapt King’s 1999 novel “The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon” for Lionsgate. Mollner will write and direct the project. Erin Westerman, president, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, made the announcement Thursday.
The original book follows a young girl who gets separated from her family in the woods and encounters multiple hardships, including a run-in with a bloodthirsty bear. To cope, she conjures Tom Gordon, who at the time played for the Boston Red Sox (King’s favorite team). In 2004 a pop-up version of the story was released, designed by Kees Moerbeek and illustrated by Alan Dingman.
Mollner is not the first filmmaker to take a crack at the story. It was a passion project of George A. Romero’s, who didn’t get to make the movie before his death in 2017. (Romero’s wife, Chris Romero, remains attached to this project as a producer.) In 2020, it was announced that Lynne Ramsay, director of “You Were Never Really Here” and the upcoming “Die, My Love,” was attached to direct. Now Mollner, whose “Long Walk” adaptation, directed by Francis Lawrence, arrives in theaters on Sept. 12, is manning the adaptation.
Roy Lee will produce alongside Romero, Ryan Silbert, Andrew Childs and Nathan Kahane. Steven Schneider will serve as an executive producer, as will Mollner.
Westerman said in an official statement, “JT is a filmmaker we believe has a bright future. Throughout his work, he creates characters, and especially young characters, that are so compelling, heartbreaking and emotional that they pop off the screen—and of course, that’s what Stephen King does on the page as well. The story of survival and perseverance in ‘The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon’ is timeless—we’ve loved this tale for a long time and JT is the perfect choice to adapt and direct this King fan favorite.”
Meredith Wieck will oversee the project for Lionsgate alongside Pavan Kalidindi. Phil Strina negotiated the deal on behalf of the studio.
Mollner is represented by UTA, World Builder Entertainment and Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner Auerbach Hynick Jaime LeVine Sample & Klein.
