Netflix Taps Derek Cianfrance for Hatchet Survival Film
Netflix will bring Gary Paulsen's survival novel Hatchet to the screen as a feature film, with Derek Cianfrance set to write and direct, as reported by Variety. The project is in development at the streamer. Producer Andrew Mittman is attached to oversee it.
The story centres on 13-year-old Brian Robeson, who is stranded alone in the Canadian wilderness after a plane crash, according to Variety. His only tool is a hatchet given to him by his mother. He must learn to find food, make shelter and stay alive.
Paulsen first published Hatchet in 1987. He later expanded it into a five-book series, comprising The River in 1991, Brian's Winter in 1996, Brian's Return in 1999 and Brian's Hunt in 2003, as noted by Variety. The book has reached the screen only once before. That was A Cry in the Wild, a television film released in 1990.
Cianfrance is best known as the writer-director behind Blue Valentine from 2010 and The Place Beyond the Pines from 2012. Mittman produces through his company 1.21, the production outfit behind Netflix's Wednesday. Kai Dolbashian will executive produce through 1.21, a role that usually involves guiding the project creatively and financially without day-to-day production duties.
The film is being made in partnership with Paulsen's estate, which also helped choose Cianfrance to lead the adaptation, as reported by Variety. Jennifer Flannery and Sandy Weinberg will serve as executive producers alongside Ruth Wright Paulsen and James Wright Paulsen. No casting has been announced.
What makes this stand out is its simplicity. One boy. One wilderness. One small tool. For readers who grew up with Brian's story, the question now is how that spare, tense fight for survival will translate to a full-scale Netflix film.
