Taika Waititi to direct Klara and the Sun adaptation

Deadline reports that Taika Waititi is in negotiations to direct Klara and the Sun for Sony’s 3000 Pictures.

Based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s New York Times best-selling novel, Klara and the Sun follows a robot girl created to prevent teenagers from becoming lonely. The film portrays her efforts to save the family of humans she lives with from heartbreak. Dahvi Waller (Mad Men) has penned the screenplay for the adaptation, which David Heyman will produce for Heyday Films.  Should the deal close, Klara and the Sun will likely be the next movie from Taika Waititi.

“Here is the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside,” reads the novel’s official description. “She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her. Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that explores the fundamental question: what does it mean to love?” Kazuo Ishiguro, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his novel The Remains of the Day, will serve as an executive producer on the adaptation.

While Klara and the Sun may very well be Taika Waititi’s next film, he is still working on his Star Wars project for Lucasfilm. Not much is known about Waititi’s Star Wars movie, only that it will ignore pre-existing characters and expand the world. Waititi’s next movie is Next Goal Wins, a soccer comedy which follows the American Samoa soccer team, infamous for their brutal 31-0 FIFA loss in 2001. With the World Cup Qualifiers approaching, the team hires down-on-his-luck, maverick coach Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender), hoping he will turn the world’s worst soccer team around in this heartfelt underdog comedy.

In addition to Michael Fassbender, Next Goal Wins stars Oscar Knightly, Kaimana, David Fane, Rachel House, Beulah Koale, Uli Latukefu, Semu Filipo, Lehi Falepapalangi, Will Arnett, and Elisabeth Moss. In addition to directing, Waititi wrote the screenplay with Iain Morris. Next Goal Wins will hit theaters on September 22nd.