Luca Guadagnino is currently in negotiations to direct Warner Bros’ Lord of the Flies, according to an exclusive report by Variety. Marco Morabito, Guadagnino’s producing partner who collaborated on Call Me By Your Name, is also in talks to produce the film. Warner Bros. has attempted to begin the project since 2017 after reacquiring the rights to the William Golding novel. It was first announced that Scott McGehee and David Siegel had made a deal with the studio to write and direct the film, but it appears now that those positions have yet to be finalized.

The book’s story follows a group of British schoolboys whose plane gets shot down during a war, leaving the boys to fend for themselves on a remote island and establish their own social order.  While there are plans to give the story a contemporary slant, insiders have stated that the idea to make the stranded individuals female has been abandoned. This initial proposal sparked controversy online.

Warner Bros. first adapted Lord of the Flies in 1990, which was directed by Harry Hook. The film received mixed reviews, with the negative reception mainly focusing on how film deviated from the original novel. Guadagnino, however, has displayed experience adapting novels to the big screen after directing Call Me By Your Name, which was based on a book of the same title by André Aciman.