Following a competitive situation, Amazon MGM Studios’ United Artists and Scott Stuber have landed Lizard Music, a package with Dwayne Johnson attached to star and Benny Safdie attached to direct. Safdie also will write the script, based on the Daniel Pinkwater novel.
Deadline first reported the news that the package was hitting the market after Safdie and Johnson’s A24 pic The Smashing Machine bowed at the Venice Film Festival. That pic won Safdie best director at Venice and earned Johnson the best reviews of his career portraying UFC fighter Mark Kerr.
The film will follow a boy left to his own devices who stumbles upon a secret late-night broadcast of lizards playing otherworldly music, and a hidden door to the extraordinary swings open. His search for answers leads him to the eccentric and whimsical septuagenarian Chicken Man and his beloved companion, a 111-year-old chicken named Claudia – two kindred spirits who found each other at just the right time. United by this shared vision, they set off on an adventure that begins as a hunt for a hidden society but blossoms into something far greater: a voyage through invisible worlds, unexpected harmonies and the unbreakable bond between lost souls who discover magic not only in what they find but in each other.
“We are so thrilled to partner once again with extraordinarily talented Dwayne Johnson, as well as work for the first time with the amazing creator, writer and director Benny Safdie, on Lizard Music,” said Courtenay Valenti, Head of Film, Streaming and Theatrical at Amazon MGM Studios. “Everyone at Amazon MGM and UA is deeply inspired by their previous collaboration on the critically acclaimed The Smashing Machine. We are so excited to now collaborate with them on this imaginative, entertaining and cinematic story; Lizard Music is a tale that feels both timeless and unique. We are very fortunate that they have trusted us to be their studio partners.”
Producers for Lizard Music include UA’s Stuber and Nick Nesbitt, Out for the Count Productions’ Safdie, Seven Bucks Productions’ Dwayne Johnson, and Magnetic Fields Entertainment’s David Koplan.
“I’ve been lucky enough to work with Dwayne and Benny on multiple projects and have seen firsthand their incredible talents and connection as artists,” said Stuber. “The world they’ve created together for Lizard Music is unlike anything either has done before, and we couldn’t be more excited to bring this wonderfully imaginative story to life.”
Said Safdie: “I couldn’t be more excited to go on this journey with Amazon MGM studios and United Artists. Lizard Music is a book I read to my two sons, and we were riveted by its imagination and wonder. I love Daniel Pinkwater as a person and an author; the idea of making a movie where everyone can join the conversation is both thrilling and beautiful. To go on this adventure with Dwayne and to be able to watch him transform and become the Chicken Man is just beyond. I can’t wait!”
Safdie and Johnson are repped by WME. Johnson also is repped by the Garcia Companies.
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