Crime anthology podcasts have been all the rage over the last few years, with This American Life‘s Serial download becoming something of an audio blockbuster. So it comes as little surprise that Hollywood is sourcing the medium for movie content with the announcement that Spotlight director Tom McCarthy is to adapt another This American Life series with S-Town.
You can download the series here, but the story focuses on investigative journalist Brian Reed’s unravelling of a mystery prompted by an e-mail from enigmatic horologist, John B. McLemore. In the message he asked Reed to look into the son of a wealthy family who’s been bragging about the fact he got away with murder. What starts as a crime-of-a-week story soon turns into a sprawling examination of one man’s life, that takes in family feuds, legal battles, and back garden mazes which may-or-may not hide the secrets to the entire mystery.
Participant Media, who are currently flying high in the US Box office charts with the documentary RBG have purchased the film rights to the podcast.
What do you think of the idea? If you’ve listened to the S-Town podcast, do you think it’s cinematic enough to work as a movie? Let us know in the comments section…
Via Deadline
Originally published June 14, 2018. Updated June 13, 2018.
