Stephen Daldry to Direct Jonathan Safran Foer’s EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE

Director Stephen Daldry is attached to helm an adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close from a script by Eric Roth (Forrest Gump)  Here’s how THR describes the story:

The 2005 book centers on Oskar Schell, a nine-year-old amateur inventor, jewelry designer, astrophysicist, tambourine player and pacifist, as he searches New York for the lock that matches a mysterious key left by his father when he was killed in the September 11 attacks.

THR notes that the casting of Schell will be a challenge, but Daldry has already shown his acumen in plucking young actors from obscurity.  Daldry’s first film, 2000′s Billy Elliot, cast the then-unknown Jamie Bell in the role of the title character.  It was not only an excellent casting choice for that film, but we’re fortunate that Bell has continued to do excellent work over the past decade.  Hopefully, Daldry will introduce us to a new great actor.  Also, if he made a movie I liked other than Billy Elliot, that would be nice too.