Killer Films and Glass Elevator Media announced today they are partnering to produce This Beautiful Life, based on the Harper Collins novel by Helen Schulman. In the book, when a salacious video sent to tenth grader Jake goes viral, his family is embroiled in a digital scandal which threatens to destroy them.
Killer and Glass Elevator have joined with a group of private investors to develop the feature film. Schulman is writing the screenplay and Susanne Bier is attached to direct.
Pam Koffler, President of Killer Films said: “We are thrilled to find in Glass Elevator partners who are devoted to bringing important, timely and entertaining stories to screens of any size. Helen’s book is exactly the kind of material we love -intelligent, complex, but at its core, emotional and universal. As parents, we are all searching for a roadmap to navigate the digital space with our kids. The issues of family never change; it’s the landscape in which they unfold that does. This is a story for our times.”
Helen Schulman said: “I am so excited to be working with Pam and Christine at Killer, whose films I have long admired, and very pleased that Glass Elevator has come on board–a terrific team. Susanne Bier is a first-rate director and when we met I felt like she truly understood my book and the flawed, blinded-by-love characters in it. It will be an honor to work with her.”
Adrienne Becker, CEO of Glass Elevator said: “Working in partnership with filmmakers of the integrity and caliber of Pam and Christine and on ‘This Beautiful Life,’ is a picture perfect collaboration for Glass Elevator. Helen has captured the familiar voices and interconnected nature of technology, family and community in a way that is timely and relevant to a broad audience of parents and young adults. The story is rich with characters who write new scripts for themselves, be they right or wrong, and Glass Elevator is engaging in partnerships with creators such as Helen, Susanne and Killer with propensities to break this new ground.”
Susanne Bier is best known for her feature films Brothers, After the Wedding and In a Better World, for which she won the Academy Award in 2011 for Best Foreign Language Film. Her forthcoming film Serena, starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, hits theaters in September 2013.
