Essays

BASED ON DEAN KOONTZ NOVEL, FOR RANDOM HOUSE FILMS & FOCUS FEATURES NEW YORK – Award-winning filmmaker Ole Bornedal has signed to direct the thriller The Husband

NEW YORK – Award-winning filmmaker Ole Bornedal has signed to direct the thriller The Husband, based on the bestselling Dean Koontz novel of the same name. The Husband is a co-production in their unique partnership of Random House Inc.’s Random House Films division and Focus Features; worldwide rights will be held by Focus. The announcement was made today by Focus CEO James Schamus and Random House Films President Peter Gethers.

Mr. Bornedal has commenced writing the newest draft of the screenplay adaptation, which had most recently been scripted by Glenn Gers. The Husband was published in 2006 in hardcover in the U.S. and Canada by the Bantam Books imprint of Random House, Inc; the paperback edition was published in 2007 in the U.S. and Canada by Bantam. Each edition was #1 on their respective New York Times Bestseller lists as well as in many countries around the world.

The storyline follows an ordinary working man whose love for his wife is put to a harrowing series of tests over a 60-hour period, beginning when his peaceful workday is shattered by a phone call from a stranger.

Mr. Schamus and Mr. Gethers said, “Ole’s work, as a writer/director who deftly crafts human-scaled stories of suspense and drama, makes him the ideal filmmaker to bring Dean’s gripping bestseller to the screen.”

Mr. Bornedal’s newest thriller as writer/director, Deliver Us from Evil, has just been released in his native Denmark. Just Another Love Story, also a thriller he directed from his original screenplay, was released earlier this year in the U.S. to critical acclaim. Remake rights to the latter film as well as to his 2007 thriller The Substitute have been acquired by Mandate Pictures, with Sam Raimi to produce both films through his Ghost House Pictures. Mr. Bornedal has won awards at the Montreal World Film Festival and the Fant-Asia Film Festival, among others.