Deadline has reported that Netflix officially won the rights to Backwards, a short story, after a six-way bidding war. Shawn Levy, known for his directorial work on Free Guy and Stranger Things, will helm the project. Studios 21 Laps and Safehouse are on the project, with Levy and Dan Cohen producing for the former and Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell producing for the latter.
The short story is about a father nearing the end of his life who uses reverse-aging to extend his life while under the care of his estranged daughter. As the father gets younger, he and his daughter are able to look back on their lives and figure out where they went wrong in their relationship. The story was originally written by Julianna Baggott and Finneas Scott, a mother-son duo.
Baggott will executive produce with Brendan Deneen and Josh Stanton from Blackstone Publishing.
Levy has wrapped The Adam Project, another picture from 21 Laps starring Ryan Reynolds, Zoe Saldana, and Mark Ruffalo, set to release on March 11 this year. The highly anticipated new season of Stranger Things is also set to release on Netflix this summer, which he also worked on. He will also direct All the Light We Cannot See, another film for Netflix.
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