Casey Affleck’s career is soaring after his monumental Oscar win for Manchester By the Sea and his latest haunting and quietly affecting role in A Ghost Story. The Affleck sibling has landed a role in the Joe Wright directed Stoner.
Stoner tells the story of, no not a pot smoker but the life of William Stoner, a dirt-poor farmer turned academic, who emerges as an unlikely existential hero while making his way through the first half of the 20th Century.
Based on the 1965 novel from John Williams, the book sold fewer than 2000 copies when it was first published in 65, but was later to be reissued in 2003 and in 2012 was Waterstone’s Book of the Year. The script is to be adapted by Andrew Bovell with Jason Blum (Blumhouse Productions), Charles S. Cohen (CMG) and Daniel Battsek (Film4) are producing the film with Ethan Hawke serving as an executive producer.
Because the novel is so beautiful but not well-known, fans of ‘Stoner’ feel like they’re in a secret club. I’m so excited that Casey, Joe and Andrew have come aboard to help expand this club’s membership,” said Blum, who optioned the book in 2011. “This quintessentially American work is being brought to the screen by a terrific international team and we’re confident their combined perspectives will add rich layers to this moving story.
Before Stoner even starts production, Joe Wright’s next project to be released will be the Winston Churchill film, Darkest Hour, in which Gary Oldman takes an astonishing transformation into Churchill himself. Affleck will also be seen in The Old Man and A Gun teaming up yet again with A Ghost Story’s David Lowery in the comedy crime drama which sees an elderly bank robber, who had managed to escape from prison over a dozen times in his life before moving to a retirement community, looks to spice things up with another heist.
