Hollywood actors Gregg Sulkin and Drake Bell are to star in Bluer Than The Sky, adapted for the screen by Australian director John Duigan (Sirens, Head in the Clouds).
The film is based on the young adult novel Blue by British author Lisa Glass, published by Quercus in June 2014.
The love story centres around Cornish teenager Iris Fox who enters a complicated relationship with famous young pro-surfer from Hawaii, Zeke Francis.
Gregg Sulkin, who is currently starring in MTV’s hit teen show, Faking It, is to play Newquay bad-boy Daniel Penhaligon.
Drake Bell, known for the wildly popular Drake & Josh TV show and currently voicing the lead in Ultimate Spider-Man, will play Hawaiian surfer Wes Francis.
Auditions for secondary characters and other minor speaking roles are set for the Atlantic Hotel, Newquay, on Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 May 2015, with call-backs scheduled for Monday 11 May.
Auditions will run from 9am-5pm. John Duigan and the full production team will be staying in Newquay to conduct the auditions.
Blue is the first novel of a trilogy, with the second instalment of the series Air, due to be published in June 2015.
Lisa Glass will be signing copies of Blue on Saturday 9 May at 3pm in the Atlantic Hotel, Newquay. All welcome.
Lisa’s editor at Quercus, Niamh Mulvey, said Blue will make a ‘fantastic film’.
She said: ‘Readers have really related to Iris -the down-to-earth English teenager who finds herself caught up in the glamorous pro–surfer scene. Blue is irresistibly romantic and it’s got excitement, a fascinating setting and intriguing characters.’
Steve Cookson, director and writer of My Angel, starring Brenda Blethyn and Timothy Spall, will join Mychal Simka, Leighton Lloyd and Lisa Glass as co-producers of Bluer Than The Sky.
Grant Bradley (Aristos Films), Emma Adams and Michael Favelle will serve as Executive Producers.
Production of Bluer Than The Sky is to start in September 2015, with six weeks filming on location in and around Newquay, Cornwall.
Leighton Lloyd, a producer and lawyer at Gipson, Hoffman & Pancione, acquired the film rights from literary agent Ben Illis at The BIA. Lloyd was part of the team behind Hotel Rwanda, Gosford Park, the Al Pacino Merchant of Venice, and Outcast, starring Nicolas Cage and Hayden Christensen, among many other high-profile film projects.
(from a press release)