“Spotlight’s” Tom McCarthy to Rewrite “Christopher Robin” for Disney (Exclusive)

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Oscar-winning Spotlight filmmaker Tom McCarthy has been hired to rewrite Disney’s CHRISTOPHER ROBIN, a live-action fantasy film about the human character in Winnie the Pooh, the Tracking Board has exclusively learned.

Marc Forster (Finding Neverland) will direct the movie, which is being produced by Brigham Taylor (The Jungle Book). Disney executive Kristin Burr will oversee the project for the studio, which hired indie filmmaker Alex Ross Perry to pen the initial draft of the screenplay.

In A.A. Milne’s book series, Christopher Robin was a boy who shares his adventures with the animals of the Hundred Acre Wood. Forster’s film will follow Christopher as a work-obsessed adult who has little time for his wife and child, let alone to indulge the imagination he had when he was younger. When Pooh re-enters his life, he must figure out how to reconcile his family troubles while helping his childhood friend, or else he risks losing everything he holds dear.

Disney is said to be aiming high in terms of talent for Christopher Robin (think of a Benedict Cumberbatch-level star), which will tell an emotional, heartwarming story that features strong elements of magical realism.

McCarthy won an Oscar last year for co-writing Best Original Screenplay winner Spotlight with Josh Singer. Since then, he has been focused on his duties as executive producer and director of Netflix’s upcoming series 13 Reasons Why, which just released its first trailer on Wednesday.

McCarthy, who previously wrote and directed The Station Agent, The Visitor and Win Win, is represented by Gersh and the law firm of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz.

 Jeff Sneider | Editor in Chief