Matt Ross To Direct ‘Tomorrow And Tomorrow’ Move Based On Novel

Matt Ross Captain Fantastic — Rex/Shutterstock

Captain Fantastic writer-director Matt Ross has been tapped to direct Tomorrow and Tomorrow, a futuristic crime thriller set up at Sony’s TriStar based on Tom Sweterlitsch’s 2014 novel. Mark Gordon is producing via the Mark Gordon Company along with Entertainment 360 and Ross’ Captain Fantastic producer Lynette Howell Taylor.

Entertainment 360 found the book and brought it to Gordon, who sold it to TriStar in a competitive auction. The plot explores humanity’s relationship with evolving virtual environments and how technology developed to connect people inevitably isolates them. The central figure is John Dominic Blaxton, who lives in Pittsburgh — which actually is the Archive, an virtual reconstruction of the city’s buildings, parks and landmarks as well as the people who once lived there. He investigates mysterious deaths from before Pittsburgh’s destruction and becomes obsessed with a woman who apparently was murdered.

“The triumph of Captain Fantastic is that it is at once funny, emotional and thought-provoking,” TriStar president Hannah Minghella said in announcing the deal. “It’s this ability to explore a thematic idea in a way that is both intelligent and entertaining that makes Matt such an exciting director for Tomorrow and Tomorrow.”

Said Ross: “Tomorrow and Tomorrow is prescient — it posits a world not so dissimilar from today, a direction we are all clearly headed, where technology has altered the ways in which we interact with each other and the world around us. I hope to examine, following the book’s lead, the degree to which our lives are enhanced, and deeply compromised, by the technology that is already an inseparable part of our daily existence. Lynette and I couldn’t be more excited to collaborate with Hannah to translate this book into the complex and relevant film we all believe it can be.”

TriStar’s book-to-film slate also includes Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist and it has attached Angelina Jolie to Shoot Like a Girl, based on Maj. Mary Jennings Hegar’s memoir.

Ross’ Captain Fantastic star Viggo Mortensen is nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for the role. Ross also wrote and directed 28 Hotel Rooms and co-stars as tech billionaire Gavin Belson on HBO’s Silicon Valley. He is repped by WME.

Sweterlitsch is repped WME, RWSG and the Gernert Company.