August 13, 2015 - 18:07 AMT
Naomi Watts, "Jurassic World" director team up for "Book of Henry"

Naomi Watts is in final negotiations to star in Colin Trevorrow’s hot project “Book of Henry,” Variety reports.

Focus Features is financing, releasing worldwide and overseeing the production. Sidney Kimmel Entertainment will co-produce the film with Double Nickel Entertainment. Sidney Kimmel and Carla Hacken will produce via the Sidney Kimmel Entertainment banner, along with Double Nickel’s Jenette Kahn and Adam Richman (Gran Torino). SKE’s President, John Penotti will exec produce, the website says.

“Book of Henry” is an original screenplay written by best-selling novelist Gregg Hurwitz (Tell No Lies, Don’t Look Back). The plot of the film, which begins shooting in New York in September, 2015, is being kept under wraps. If the deal makes, this is a big get for Watts, who is enjoying a potentially stellar year with Toronto opener Demolition opposite Jake Gyllenhaal for director Jean-Marc Vallee as well as the next two instalments of the Divergent series: Allegiant Parts 1 +2 in the pipelines.

This has been a fast-tracked project ever since Trevorrow scored supernova grosses with “Jurassic World” for Focus parent Universal. That pic, starring Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, has already earned over $1.5 billion globally. Trevorrow also has history with Focus chief exec Peter Schlessel, who released the director’s Sundance hit Safety Not Guaranteed while he was still at FilmDistrict.