Guillermo Del Toro always likes to keep busy, and he’s just added another project to his roster, as he’s set to produce a new adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic children’s novel, The Secret Garden. Many noted similarities between Pan’s Labyrinth and The Secret Garden, so it’s not completely new territory for Del Toro.
The film has also hired a screenwriter, with Deadline reporting that Lucy Alibar will come up with the script. Alibar only has one screen credit to her name, but as she’s scored an Oscar nomination for co-writing Beasts Of The Southern Wild, it’s little surprise she’s getting hired for good jobs or that she’d be seen as a good fit for Secret Garden.
Burnett’s 1910 novel is about the rude, spoiled Mary Lennox, who’s less than pleased to be sent to live in her uncle’s cold house in Yorkshire, after her family dies of cholera in India. She finds the key to a garden that’s been left unattended since her uncle’s wife died, and entering it begins to change both her life and those around her.
This new version is apparently going to give things a slightly different spin, setting it in the American South around the turn of the 20th century, which suggests a more gothic take than previous versions (which would certainly fit with Del Toro’s penchants).
It’s still early days for the new movie, with no director attached as yet.
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