Now that his work polishing up the first Hunger Games sequel **Catching Fire **is long behind him, Simon Beaufoy has turned his attention to other things. But he’s sticking with novel adaptations, scripting a version of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk for Film 4.
Written by Ben Fountain and set in 2005, the excellent book follows the titular character, a 19 year-old Texan who chronicles the final few hours before he and the other members of his infantry troop return to the war in Iraq.
But while it’s naturally a heartstring-tugger, it’s also described as hilarious and poignant.
Production company The Ink Factory is shepherding it through development right now, and there’s unlikely to be a director attached until spring 2013 at the earliest. But given the presence of Beaufoy’s Oscar-winning keyboard skills and the novel’s reception, we’d expect it to find a willing megaphone-wielder without much trouble.
Along with **Catching Fire **(due November 22 next year), Beaufoy has also written an original script, tornado thriller Black Sky, which should swirl into our cinemas at some point in the coming months.