EXCLUSIVE: Sony’s 3000 Pictures’ adaptation of Don Winslow‘s best-selling crime novel City On Fire is looking to gaining some steam as sources tell Deadline Matt Ross is coming on to direct the pic starring Austin Butler. Butler will also produce long with David Heyman of Heyday Films and Shane Salerno and The Story Factory. Challengers writer Justin Kuritzkes will adapt.
The trilogy focuses on two criminal empires — one Irish, the other Italian — that control all of New England, until a modern-day Helen of Troy tears them apart and starts a brutal war. The main character, Danny Ryan, is forced to grow from a street soldier into a ruthlessly efficient leader to protect his friends, his family and the home he loves. Fighting the Mafia, the local cops, the feds – everyone – Danny builds a dynasty or will die trying.
A modern retelling of the Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid and Greek tragic dramas set in the world of contemporary crime, the studio acquired the film rights to the trilogy, which is published by HarperCollins/Morrow. The novel became a New York Times bestseller after it was published in April 2022 and was the best reviewed crime novel of 2022, topping more than 25 major best-of-the-year lists. City on Fire and the second book in the trilogy, City of Dreams, were both named Amazon Best Books of the Year. The third book in the trilogy, City in Ruins, debuted as a New York Times best-seller on two separate lists – both hardcover and combined, as well as made Apple, Los Angeles Times and PW best-seller lists, was named an Amazon Best Book of the Month and has received widespread critical acclaim.
Elizabeth Gabler and Marisa Paiva are overseeing the project for the studio.
Given how busy Butler is these days, 3000 Pictures made this a priority in recent months to find the right person for the job and put this in position to be ready once his schedule opened. Following a string meetings with potential suitors, Ross’ take was too good to pass on with the Captain Fantastic director landing the job in recent weeks.
Ross wrote and directed the films 28 Hotel Rooms, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and Captain Fantastic, starring Viggo Mortensen, which won Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section, and earned Mortensen a Best Actor Nomination at the Academy Awards.
Ross most recently directed all episodes of the Starz limited series Gaslit, starring Julia Roberts and Sean Penn, nominated for four Critics Choice Television Awards, including Best Limited Series and Best Actress for Roberts, and all episodes of the upcoming Netflix limited series Death by Lightning, starring Matthew MacFadyen and Michael Shannon.
As an actor, Ross is best known for his work in Mary Harron’s American Psycho, Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator, and his five-season HBO runs as Alby Grant on Big Love and Gavin Belson on Silicon Valley.
#1 internationally bestselling author, Don Winslow is the author of eight consecutive New York Times bestsellers and three New York Times Critics Choice Best Books of the Year. Winslow has recently announced his retirement with “City in Ruins” being his last novel. He may continue to write short stories, novellas and screenplays.
City on Fire reunites Heyman and Sony Pictures, after producing Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which received eight Oscar nominations and won two, including Best Supporting Actor. His other producing credits include the Academy Award–nominated films Barbie, Marriage Story, and Gravity, as well as Paul King’s Wonka, among many others.
Ross is represented by CAA, Range Media and Warren Dern at Sloane/Offer/Weber/Dern.