Marc Webb will direct and Nick Hornby will write This Above All for Condé Nast about Megan Phelps-Roper, the Westboro Baptist Church acolyte who turned her back on the institution her grandfather founded.
The film is being adapted from an article in Condé Nast’s The New Yorker by Adrian Chen and Phelps-Roper’s upcoming memoir.
Dawn Ostroff and Jeremy Steckler of Condé Nast Entertainment (CNÉ) will produce with Reese Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea for Made Up Stories, Webb, and River Road Entertainment’s Bill Pohlad. River Road will finance.
Phelps-Roper is the granddaughter of Fred Phelps, founder of the Westboro Baptist Church, and became a social media firebrand who would decry anything that flew in the face of her religious beliefs, from cultural events to funerals.
When her online arguments with other Twitter users led to question her values, she left the church to become a social media activist lobbying against hate and division.
“Megan’s extraordinary story says so much about so many things in contemporary America, and I’m really excited about this project,” Hornby said. “I’m looking forward to working with the brilliant Marc Webb, CNÉ and with my friends Reese Witherspoon, Bruna Papandrea and River Road, with whom I enjoyed such a good relationship during the making of Wild.”
“When we read The New Yorker article about Megan’s incredible journey, we knew that it was the perfect fit for CNÉ’s film group, which focuses on compelling and timely stories from Condé Nast’s vast library of publications,” CNÉ president Ostroff and executive vice-president of feature films Steckler said.
“Marc and Nick both have a powerful vision of how to tell Megan’s story and we are very happy to be partnered with Reese, Bruna and Bill, who understand the importance of bringing this project to the big screen.”
Christa Zofcin Workman negotiated the deal for River Road with CAA representing CNÉ, Phelps-Roper, Witherspoon, Papandrea and Webb.
Hornby was represented by Casarotto Ramsay & Associates Ltd. Phelps-Roper is also represented by Melissa Flashman at Janklow & Nesbit Associates. The book by Phelps-Roper will be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Webb’s directing credits include The Amazins Spider-Man and 500 Days Of SUmmer. Horby’s screnplay
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