Former BeijingKids columnist and renowned Panda Dad Alan Paul has officially announced that the movie rights to his book Big in China, about his experiences living and playing music in Beijing, have been purchased as an option by Ivan Reitman’s (Animal House) Montecito Pictures.
To quote from Alan’s blog:
Reitman himself is signed on to produce and direct. Anything could still happen, of course, but the option is not sitting on a shelf. Writer Paul Fruchbom has been hired to write a screenplay. We have had a few conversations. I like him and I’m excited about where it’s headed and happy to be involved.
From the first time I spoke to my agent Doug Johnson, he was very enthusiastic about the prospects for Big in China, but I never really believed him, partly as a defense mechanism so that I couldn’t be disappointed and partly because I think that an important part of any agent’s jobs is relentless optimism.
Congratulations to Alan for his continued success. If the film does get made, it will be interesting to see how expat life in Beijing is depicted through a Hollywood lens this time around.
