EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. Pictures has closed a film-rights deal for the New York Times bestseller Playground by Richard Powers.
Plan B, Timothée Chalamet and Brian Swardstrom are attached to produce. Nothing will happen until it’s developed, but Chalamet has first crack at starring as the central character.
The Booker Prize-nominated Playground follows Todd Keane and his two best friends from the University of Illinois, through the tech boom of Silicon Valley to the phosphate-mined Polynesian island of Makatea. The story explores love, friendship and the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence.
Coming off its two Oscar winners One Battle After Another and Sinners, Warner Bros looks to have a strong close of the year coming with Chalamet in Dune: Part Three, the Denis Villenueve-directed Legendary Entertainment film. Warner Bros, which releases the film December 18, just dropped a trailer that looks epic. Chalamet is coming off two consecutive Best Actor Oscar nominations, for Marty Supreme and the Bob Dylan pic A Complete Unknown.
Plan B is coming off Best Picture nominee F1 that starred partner Brad Pitt, and the miniseries Adolescence, which won eight Emmy Awards.
Powers is a MacArthur Fellow and National Book Award recipient, with The Overstory earning him the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and a Booker Prize shortlist spot in 2018. He’s has been nominated for the Booker Prize four times, most recently for Playground in 2024. He’s been Booker-nominated more times than any living author.
Plan B is currently developing Powers’ Bewilderment with Black Bear.
Powers is represented by CAA and Melanie Jackson Agency. Plan B is represented by CAA. Chalamet is represented by UTA, Brian Swardstrom and Gang Tyre Ramer & Brown.