http://www.blogcdn.com/www.cinematical.com/media/2009/12/let-the-great-world-spin-121009.jpg
This might make your world spin a little – The Risky Biz Blog over at THR reports that J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot are working on getting the rights to Colum McCann’s award-winning novel Let the Great World Spin](Let the Great World Spin: A Novel: McCann, Colum: 9780812973990: Amazon.com: Books). Should the deal work out, he will produce with McCann getting the opportunity to adapt the screenplay himself. Why would your world spin? It sounds SciFi-ish, right? Not quite.
The book, which was published in June, focuses on a collection of characters in New York City during the time when Philippe Petit tightrope walked between the World Trade Center towers in 1974 – you know – the Man on Wire dude. The people that will be under the camera’s scrutiny include: “A young Irish monk living among the prostitutes in the Bronx; a group of mothers mourning their sons, killed in Vietnam, in a Park Avenue apartment; and a 38-year-old grandmother walking the streets with her teenaged daughter.” THR notes: “With comparisons to Don DeLillo’s work, McCann’s novel serves as an allegory of 9/11 and its aftermath.”
It’s almost like getting back to Abrams’ Felicity roots, but let’s hope this one doesn’t end with a ridiculous and ill-suited time-travel storyline that makes for an entirely messing ending. Regardless, it looks like Abrams is into the straight-forward drama lately. He just wrapped Anatomy of Hope for TV.