Searchlight and Noah Hawley optioned a short story, Lost Souls, last year, and has acquired Issa Lopez (Tigers Are Not Afraid) to write the script and direct the adaptation, according to Deadline.
What’s Happening:
- Based on a short story written by Matthew Baker, Lost Souls was optioned last year by Searchlight and producer Noah Hawley (Fargo, Bones, Lucy In The Sky),
- Issa Lopez (Tigers Are Not Afraid, 600 Miles, A La Mala) has been tapped to write the script as well as direct the adaptation of Matthew Baker’s Story.
- Lost Souls is set in a world in which some babies are born without souls. A young expectant mother is sent to an unusual wellness center in the desert, with the hopes that it will improve her chances of delivering a healthy baby.
- Lost Souls is one of several short stories written by Baker that have turned into big movie deals. Hawley and his 26 Keys is turning Baker’s short story Why Visit America into an FX pilot Baker is writing and Hawley is exec producing.
- Issa Lopez won Best Director in the Horror Category at Fantastic Fest 2017 for Tigers Are Not Afraid, and she also has a supernatural folklore film that Guillermo Del Toro will produce for Searchlight in development.
What They’re Saying:
- Issa Lopez: “My first paid job in the business was writing and directing segments for the Mexican ‘Sesame Street.’ Eventually I moved on to write soap-operas, or Telenovelas, as they are known in Mexico. Terrible job, but quite the school for writers. It took me around five years to find my way into movies: writing romantic comedies. It took a while to convince producers I could direct myself, and that I didn’t want to direct the rom-coms I was known for, but very caustic comedies. I directed two of these. I know, nothing of this seems to lead to ‘Tigers,’ but actually, it did: genre has always been my passion, and so many years, pages, scenes without it pushed me into going full-fantasy, full-grit with ‘Tigers.'”