Tom McCarthy, the man who took the helm on the Oscar-winning Spotlight, has entered talks to direct a feature-length adaptation of the podcast S-Town.
The podcast, which comes from Serial and This American Life, focuses on an Alabama man named John who contacts host Brian Reed to have him investigate a supposed murder by the son of a wealthy family in his hometown, which he openly despises. The story then delves into John’s own backstory, filled with everything from clocks and buried treasure to a giant hedge maze behind his family home.
If a deal can be struck, McCarthy will reunite with Participant Media. The Production outfit and McCarthy worked together on Spotlight.
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The S-Town podcast is an investigative journalism podcast hosted by Brian Reed and created by the producers of Serial and This American Life. All seven chapters were released on March 28, 2017. The podcast was downloaded a record-breaking 10 million times in four days, and it had been downloaded over 40 million times by May 2017. The podcast went on to received the Peabody Award for 2017 in the category Radio/Podcast.
McCarthy has a number of skills under his belt from actor to director, writer and producer. McCarthy helped pen Disney’s forthcoming Christopher Robin, his previous writing credits also include Spotlight, Up and The Station Agent. His television career has seen him direct two episodes of 13 Reasons Why. He also directed an unaired episode of Game of Thrones and produced another.