StudioCanal has teamed up with Benedict Cumberbatch’s production company, SunnyMarch (who are currently filming The Current War), to acquire the rights to bestselling author, Matt Haig’s upcoming novel How To Stop Time, which will see Cumberbatch not only star in the leading role but play a part as executive producer.
Doctor Strange and Sherlock actor Cumberbatch will play Tom Hazard, a 41-year-old man who looks great considering he has been alive for centuries, we will be taken on a journey of love that covers many of the era’s he has lived through across the world.
Matt Haig comments “The prospect of Benedict Cumberbatch playing Tom Hazard is a hugely exciting one and I could not be happier about working with Adam and Jamie, and to be reunited with STUDIOCANAL.”
If you fancy reading the novel before the film hits the big screens you will have to wait until July 2017 which will see the novel published via Canongate. StudioCanal will be fully financing the picture, a deal negotiated by SunnyMarch’s Managing Director, Adam Ackland who will also be co-producing alongside Nick Marston of Curtis Brown.
Adam Ackland adds, “We have been huge fans of Matt’s for a long time and always admired his wonderfully playful and deeply honest work. HOW TO STOP TIME delivers all of this and much much more…we are truly excited to be taking this on with such a talented team already in place.”
How To Stop Time Synopsis
HOW TO STOP TIME is the first adult novel in four years by Matt Haig, the number one bestselling author whose books have been translated into over thirty languages. It tells the story of Tom Hazard (Cumberbatch), a man who may look like an ordinary 41-year-old but, owing to an extremely rare condition, he’s been alive for centuries. It is a wildly imagined love story that spans centuries and continents and cements Haig’s reputation as one of the most original and exciting novelists of his generation.
