Britain's Zadie Smith is known for literary journalism, novel writing and cultural analysis, but now she is turning her hand to screenwriting.
The Orange Prize winner will work alongside her husband, Irish novelist and poet, Nick Laird, and French director, Claire Denis, on a space adventure film which will take place in the future.
This film will also be Denis' first English-language film, following on from her acclaimed French films, White Material, Friday Night and César-winning Beau Travail.
Joining the production team for this film are Oliver Dungey (Miss Julie), Laurence Clerc and Olivier Thery Lapiney from French screen house, Alcatraz Films, as well as Cologne-based Claudia Steffen and Christoph Friedel from Pandora Filmproduktion.
Dungey told Screen Daily: "I am delighted that Claire has been tempted to cross the channel and make a film in English; she is one of the greats of contemporary cinema and she's assembled a quite extraordinary team to make exactly the kind of ambitious film that audiences cherish - completely original, genuinely pushing the boundaries of art and science and, above all, extremely entertaining."
Smith is currently based in New York although she grew up in Northwest London.
Fellow New York writers expressed their excitement on Twitter this morning:
Dan Kois, Slate Magazine cultural editor:
Claire Denis' English-lang debut (!), written with Zadie Smith (!!), collabo with Olafur Eliasson (!!), set in space (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!— Dan Kois (@dankois)
June 29, 2015
Lance Richardson, writer and photographer:
French filmmaker Claire Denis will make her English-language debut with a new film set in space. Screenplay with Zadie Smith. YES— Lance Richardson (@lancerichardson)
June 29, 2015
Bilge Ebiri, film critic and writer:
I look forward to everybody calling the Claire Denis/Zadie Smith space movie a neglected masterpiece 10 years after it comes out.— Bilge Ebiri (@BilgeEbiri)
June 29, 2015
Smith is not new to the screen; her 2000 novel White Teeth was adapted into a four-part drama for Channel 4 in the UK and a feature version of her 2005 novel On Beauty is in development for the channel's digital platform.
According to Screen Daily, the project is currently in advanced development and is studio shooting is due to start in Cologne in late 2015/early 2016.
French astrophysicist, Aurélien Barrau, will advise the team with his research on black holes and cosmology.
Also on board is Olafur Eliasson, Danish-Icelandic artist known for large-scale installation art which enhances the viewer's experience with a focus on the elements, such as light and water.
Watch the 3-minute short, based on Eliasson's work 'Contact,' which will form the basis of Denis and Smith's sci-fi movie below:
