Blake Lively to Make Film Directorial Debut With Adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley Graphic Novel ‘Seconds’ (Exclusive)
Blake Lively is set to make her feature directorial debut with Seconds, an adaptation of the graphic novel by Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O’Malley that is set up at Searchlight.
Edgar Wright, who adapted the 2010 cult classic Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, is also involved with Seconds. The filmmaker wrote the script and is producing along with Marc Platt.
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Published in 2014 by Random House’s Ballantine Books imprint, Seconds tells the story of Katie Clay, who receives the power to fix her past mistakes via writing them down in a notebook, eating a mushroom and falling asleep. Clay becomes too eager to fix every little aspect of her life and before long, her newfound ability begins to create new problems that threaten not only to take her further and further from the life she initially had but the very fabric of time and space itself. The book was the first work from O’Malley since wrapping up his break-out Pilgrim graphic novel series.
Lively made her directorial debut last year when she helmed the music video for Taylor Swift’s “I Bet You Think About Me,” which featured singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton. The video earned her nominations for the 2022 Academy of Country Music Awards for directing and producing.
The award-winning actress, who transitioned from TV star on the series Gossip Girl into an in-demand film star, has worked with a number of acclaimed film directors throughout her robust career, including Ben Affleck, Rebecca Miller and Oliver Stone. The jump to directing is a big deal in any actor’s career, but doing so for Searchlight has considerable meaning as the label is known for prestige fare from auteurs and less so for first-time helmers.
Author O’Malley is best known for his Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series, which was first introduced in August 2004. A 2010 film adaptation co-written and directed by Wright saw Michael Cera in the title role, leading a cast of future all-stars including Chris Evans, Brie Larson and Kieran Culkin. Although it underperformed at the box office, the film received positive reviews and several awards and nominations. It has since gone on to become a cult classic.
Lively is repped by WME and Management 360.
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