Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden made one of the best films of the first half of this year, the underseen baseball drama Sugar, not to mention breaking out with their first film, Half-Nelson. Now Focus Features is taking them on to write and direct It's Kind of a Funny Story, a coming-of-age story.
Whereas Sugar was very grounded in the real world, and could easily be mistaken for a documentary, the next film sounds a bit more fantastical. THR writes that Funny Story will be an adaptation of Ned Vizzini's novel about a 15-year-old boy placed in the adult ward of a psychiatric hospital, meeting grown-ups who are even crazier than he is.
Focus is one of the few specialty divisions that's still alive and thriving, and their releases this year-- Sin Nombre, Coraline-- have been typically stellar. Fleck and Boden are some of the best young filmmakers we have, and given that Focus is something of a step up to the big leagues for them, this should be an opportunity to bring them even more attention and acclaim.
