Motion Pictures
March 12, 2001
Warner Bros. Pictures And Malpaso Acquire Rights To Acclaimed Novel “Mystic River” By Dennis Lehane
(March 12, 2001 – Burbank, CA) – Warner Bros. Pictures and Malpaso Productions have acquired the motion picture rights to The New York Times best-selling novel “Mystic River,” a psychological suspense thriller by Dennis Lehane, for Clint Eastwood to produce and direct. The announcement was made today by Lorenzo di Bonaventura, President of Worldwide Production, Warner Bros. Pictures.
Published by William Morrow in January 2001, “Mystic River” tells the pensive and evocative story of three childhood friends whose relationship ends in the wake of a tragic incident. Twenty-five years later, the three are inexorably linked by a murder investigation.
Mr. Eastwood has no immediate plans to put the “Mystic River” project into production; he is currently discussing potential screenwriters to adapt the novel. Ann Rittenberg of the Ann Rittenberg Literary Agency Inc. brokered the deal on behalf of Dennis Lehane.
An accomplished actor, producer and director, Clint Eastwood has established a long and successful history with Warner Bros. Pictures, including the recent hit film “Space Cowboys,” as well as the dramatic thrillers “True Crime” and “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”; the romantic drama “The Bridges of Madison County”; and the Academy Award-winning western “Unforgiven,” which earned Best Picture and Best Director honors for Mr. Eastwood.
Dennis Lehane is the author of a popular series of detective novels anchored by protagonists Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, gritty private investigators from the rough, blue-collar streets of Dorchester, Massachusetts who operate their agency from the belfry of a Boston church. The series is comprised of the books “A Drink Before the War,” which won the Shamus Award for Best First Novel; “Darkness Take My Hand”; “Sacred”; “Gone Baby Gone”; and “Prayers for Rain.” # # #