Robert Zemeckis is currently playing that age-old game of How Many Projects Can I Become Attached To Before I Have To Choose One, a favourite of the filmmakers fortunate enough to be in a position to do so. With more than one film bubbling away in his development cauldron, he’s now adding the adaptation of Kate DiCamillo’s novel The Miraculous Journey Of Edward Tulane to the list.
If he does end up making the film, it would find the Who Framed Roger Rabbit director back working with bunnies, as DiCamillo’s book, published in 2006, follows the misadventures of a vain china rabbit. He’s initially given to a 10 year-old girl in the 1930s and lives a life of privilege until he accidentally tumbles overboard from the Queen Mary, whereupon he spends 297 days on the ocean floor until a storm nudges him free.
From there, he becomes a sort of toy rabbit version of The Littlest Hobo, drifting between owners including a fisherman’s wife, a tramp and his dog, and a girl with pneumonia. New Line has been trying to get this one in front of cameras for seven years, and while Zemeckis’ attachment is no guarantee of movement, it certainly won’t hurt.
But the script, written by Jeff Stockwell, will have to compete with the other options Zemeckis is mulling at present, including the adaptation of documentary **Marwencol he’s just picked up and Charlie Kaufman’s **Chaos Walking.