A pair of actors from the romantic drama series Riverdale and The Summer I Turned Pretty are making the jump to the big screen with an adaptation of the web novel Chasing Red, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Written by Isabelle Ronin, Chasing Red follows college student Veronica as she encounters campus heartthrob Caleb and tries to resist the spark between them while dealing with her own troubled past. However, when circumstances force her to move in with him, they must navigate a roller coaster of secrets, betrayal, and a slow-burning romance.
Originally posted on Wattpad, an online platform for aspiring writers, in 2014, the book became the site’s second most popular English title with over 261 million reads. Web comic and graphic novel versions, available via Webtoon and Webtoon Unscrolled, followed before physical version of the novel was published through Sourcebooks Casablanca in 2017.
Now, the story will soon make an appearance in theatres with Madelaine Petsch and Gavin Casalegno in the leads. Petsch, best known as Cheryl Blossom in CW’s Riverdale series, recently starred in Lionsgate’s reboot of The Strangers series, will appear in Killer Film’s Pretty Babies, and produced and starred in Amazon’s Maintenance Required. Casalegno, who appeared in the Amazon Prime adaptation of The Summer I Turned Pretty as Jeremiah Fisher, will next appear in Jeff Wadlow’s The Devil’s Mouth.
The Chasing Red adaptation will be produced by Stampede Ventures’ Greg Silverman and Grant Torre, and David Madden and Jason Goldberg of Webtoon Productions, who have also adapted the Wattpad story After by Anna Todd into a popular five-movie franchise.
The project will be directed by Mackenzie Munro, who also previously helmed Wattpad’s first indie feature, Boot Camp, and the screenplay will be written by Lauren Schacher. Mister Smith Entertainment is handling international sales, while Amazon Prime Video will distribute the film for locations such as the U.K., Canada, Australia/New Zealand, France, and Benelux.
Production will begin in Saudi Arabia early next year.
Leave a Comment