Hollywood bites into Cronin’s novel

Hollywood bites into Cronin’s novel

BY JESSICA STARK
Rice News Staff

Justin Cronin’s novel won’t debut for another two years, but it’s already caused quite a stir in the publishing and movie worlds.

JUSTIN CRONIN

Major movie studios began fighting for the rights to take the story to the silver screen soon after Cronin, professor of English, signed a multi-million-dollar book deal for his post-apocalyptic vampire novel. In the end, Fox 2000 and Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions walked away the winners with a $1.75 million bid for the first book in the planned trilogy.

“As a writer, you want people to like what you do,” Cronin said. “It’s very exciting to see this level of enthusiasm for the story, for my work.”

Cronin will take a sabbatical this year to work on the trilogy. Most of the first book is written and the remaining volumes mapped out. The first novel, “The Passage,” is scheduled for publication in summer 2009, with books two and three to follow in 2011 and 2013.

But, is there more pressure on him now that he’s caught Hollywood’s eye?

“I wouldn’t say it’s more pressure, necessarily. Writing is always pretty high pressure,” Cronin said. “It’s always a risk, a roll of the dice. My plan is the same as it always was — to write the best books I can. That’s the writer’s job.”

“The Passage” is already being hailed as a page-turner that combines the imaginative power of Stephen King’s “The Stand” and the storytelling of Michael Crichton’s early novels.

“It is rare to find a novel that delivers so many things we look for in a book — intense plotting, exquisite writing, memorable characters and a tremendous vision and imagination,” said Mark Tavani, Cronin’s editor at Ballantine Books. “We’re really very excited about publishing this trilogy, which we know will appeal to a wide mainstream audience.”

Ballantine acquired the North American rights to the novel for a reported $3.75 million. A number of foreign publishers have made deals with Cronin as well, including publishers in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Brazil.

Cronin, whose collection of short stories “Mary and O’Neil” won the PEN Hemingway and the Stephen Crane prizes for best debut fiction, is also the author of the novel “The Summer Guest,” which was a Booksense national best-seller. Other honors for his writing include a Whiting Writer’s Award, fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pew Foundation, the National Novella Award and an Individual Artist’s Fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

Read more about Cronin’s recent book deal.