N279 Entertainment has acquired the rights to Dutch author Joost Zwagerman’s novel Gimmick!, set in the late 1980s.

N279 Entertainment has acquired the rights to Dutch author Joost Zwagerman’s novel Gimmick!.

Els Vandevorst and Martin Koolhoven (Winter In Wartime) will produce and Frank Klein is also on board. Christophe Dirickx will adapt the screenplay.

The novel is set in Amsterdam in the late 1980s, when a successful young painter has his heart broken and turns to sex, drugs and rock & roll. The celebrated novel was published in 1989.

Vandevorst says: “The packed party last year to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Gimmick! says enough about the impact Zwagerman’s provocative novel on the Amsterdam art scene had. After twenty years it is time for this raw world to make its way to the screen.” 

N279 is also working on a new film to be directed by Koolhoven.