India-based Reliance Entertainment has acquired as a film franchise starter the rights to Kristin Cashore’s bestselling, award-winning young adult fantasy Graceling, in partnership with Kintop Pictures.
British screenwriter Piers Ashworth (Nostradamus) has signed on to write the script. Graceling is the first installment of “The Seven Kingdoms Trilogy,” which also includes The New York Times bestsellers Fire and Bitterblue. These books have won numerous awards, including the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature, the SIBA Book Award/YA, Indies Choice Book Award Honor Book, and Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year.
Graceling, published by Harcourt Children’s Books, tells the story of the vulnerable yet strong Katsa, a smart, beautiful young woman who lives in a world where select people born with an extreme skill — called a Grace — are feared and exploited. Katsa carries the burden of a skill even she despises: the Grace of killing. As the king’s niece, she is forced to execute his dirty work, punishing and torturing anyone who displeases him. Katsa must learn to decipher the true nature of her Grace . . . and how to put it to good use.
Deepak Nayar stated: “We are very excited about a potential franchise with a strong and original female lead. ‘Graceling’ offers an original storyline that we haven’t seen before that combines elements of ‘Hunger Games’ and ‘Game of Thrones.'”
Producer Deepak Nayar (Bend It Like Beckham, Buena Vista Social Club) will oversee the project for Reliance and Kintop Pictures and will produce alongside Tabrez Noorani (Slumdog Millionaire, Life of Pi) of Tamasha Talkies and Leigh Ann Burton for Blu-Sky Media.
