Warner Bros and Universal Pictures have optioned rights to Harlan Coben’s thriller Tell No One. One of the biggest-selling mystery writers in America, Coben has yet to see one of his books given the Hollywoodteur treatment. That was until now, Ben Affleck is attached to direct the screenplay written by Chris Terrio. Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall are producing Harlan first Hollywood film. The studios will co-develop the picture, with Warner Bros releasing domestically and Universal Pictures International launching it overseas. The deal also involves Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp, as the project is a loose remake of the French film adaptation of Coben’s book, which was directed by Guillaume Canet with EuropaCorp ties.Coben originally set up his book at Sony Pictures in 2002. The studio hired Star Trek scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, however, it never came together and Sony let it go. Meanwhile in France, Canet then got involved, figured out how to make the premise work, set it up at EuropaCorp and turned it into French film. The plot involves a pediatrician who is out one night with his wife when she suddenly vanishes and he is severely beaten. When she turns up murdered, he is prime suspect. Canet managed to make all of that work, while Hollywoodteurs spent years unable to come up with a script to greenlight.
Hoping for yet another franchise, other Coben's other books have been bought by stealthy Hollywoodteurs seeking a R.O.I.
