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The drama spec ADRIFT from writers Aaron and Jordan Kandell, which landed on The Tracking Board Hit List yesterday, is currently being packaged for financiers and distributors. Shailene Woodley is attached to star in the film, with Everest‘s Baltasar Kormakur planning to direct.
The story is based on the true tale of Tami Oldham Ashcraft (Woodley) and her fiancé, Richard Sharp, who set sail from Tahiti in the mid-1980s only to find themselves in the middle of a massive hurricane 1,500 miles from the nearest strip of land. During the ordeal, Ashcraft was knocked unconscious and when she awoke, she found the ship in ruins, and Sharp gone, presumably swept overboard. Over 41 days, she navigated a near-impossible journey — with little food, no navigation tools, and a head wound — back to land.
It is an epic tale of survival, determination, and self-will, that is sure to be a rich role for Woodley and a compelling story for creators and audiences alike. It also will not be entirely foreign seas for the Icelandic Kormakur to navigate, who also directed the 2012 film The Deep about a fisherman who has to try and survive the perils of the ocean after his boat capsizes.
Reports say WME, who reps both Kormakur and the writers, is leading negotiations on the deal and trying to finalize it before the holidays.
Woodley most recently appeared as the lead in the Divergent films as well as Oliver Stone’s Snowden, which came out earlier this year. She will soon be seen in the HBO limited series Big Little Lies alongside Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman. She’s repped by UTA and Principato-Young Entertainment.
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Anya Crittenton | Associate Editor
This news was first reported by Deadline.
