It was announced last summer that Jeff Bridges was developing an adaptation of the 1993 young adult sci-fi novel The Giver for the big screen. Today, Variety reports that the adaptation may have found a helmer in Salt director Phillip Noyce.
Set in a distant future, the book tells of a society in which the entire range of human emotion has been eradicated by removing any trace of history. Only one individual in the society — called “the Giver” — is tasked with remembering the past in case it becomes necessary to make use of it. A twelve-year-old boy, Jonas, is tasked to become the next Giver in line and has his whole world thrown into question when he begins tutelage with the previous, elderly Giver.
Noyce is also known for directing films like Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger and The Quiet American. He would work on The Giver with a screenplay by Vadim Perelman, the writer/director behind House of Sand and Fog.
The original book was followed by two sequels, “Gathering Blue” and “Messenger,” the latter of which was published in 2004.