While GAME OF THRONES recently was renewed for two more seasons, that doesn’t mean that series creators D.B. Weiss and David Benoiff are unable to work on anything but the HBO series. In fact, the two writers have found their directorial debut which they will helm together.
That project will be an adaptation of the Stephen Hunter novel DIRTY WHITE BOYS. Hunter, a prolific crime author, also wrote the novel that served as the inspiration for the Mark Wahlberg film SHOOTER. Here is the summary of DIRTY WHITE BOYS.
After killing a black inmate, the brutal Lamar Pye breaks out of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary along with his retarded cousin, Odell, and a hapless artist-turned-felon named Richard. They embark on a desperate run across Oklahoma and Texas, pursued by state troopers. The escapees hide out with a convict groupie who has lived alone since murdering her parents as an adolescent. In a parody of domesticity, Lamar embraces these losers as the family he never knew. Unlettered Lamar is a natural leader, more intelligent by far than his pursuers, but his gang screws up every time at a terrible cost in bloodshed.
Weiss and Benoiff decided to adapt the novel after hanging with some writer friends and discussing the greatest opening lines of all time. Friend Scott Frank, screenwriter of GET SHORTY, THE WOLVERINE, and the upcoming ASSASSIN’S CREED, mentioned DIRTY WHITE BOYS. Having never heard of the novel, Benoiff and Weiss became enthralled and bought the rights.
If you are curious, here is the opening line.
“Three men at McAlester State Penitentiary had larger penises than Lamar Pye, but all were black and therefore, by Lamar’s own figuring, hardly human at all.”
I have to say that Benoiff and Weiss have proved themselves worthy of a feature gig after adapting GAME OF THRONES for HBO, so I am open to whatever project they want to tackle. And I have to agree that is definitely an opening line worth remembering. I just hope they cast it well and keep that line as a voice over for the film.
There is no timetable for DIRTY WHITE BOYS as Benoiff and Weiss are expecting to remain with GAME OF THRONES through a potential seventh and final season. The book has been in development for several years now, so their option should hold in the meantime.