Jaden Smith May Be Boy Nobody
Teen Bourne book adapted
Source: Variety
As trends warp and weave their way around Hollywood’s development offices, it’s natural for combinations to form here and there as executives and creators slam ideas together to try to come up with something fresh that still features elements of formulas that work. Take Allen Zadoff’s new young adult novel, Boy Nobody, which appears to be a teen take on the Bourne series. Sony is now in talks to nab the rights to adapt the tome for Karate Kid star Jaden Smith.
While Variety cautions that no deal has yet been struck with Zadoff and his agents, you can see why Sony beat 20th Century Fox to the punch for a chance to negotiate, since it brings along Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment company to produce any film and can offer the potential of Jaden as a lead.
It will surprise exactly no one to learn that Boy Nobody is A) not out in the shops until next year and B) the first of a planned trilogy. The plot is focused on a brainwashed teenaged assassin, described by the author as a "young soldier trained not to feel; who could function in every situation without fear, sympathy or anger; who could assassinate strangers and then walk away emotionally unscathed." Trouble is, he starts to regain those pesky emotions and strikes out to uncover more about his past.
There’s no writer or director attached yet, and Smith hasn’t committed, though the film will be developed with him in mind. Jaden’s currently busy filming M Night Shyamalan’s After Earth alongside his father.
