Demme to Direct Animated Katrina Pic

Friday, October 30, 2009
By: Ramin Zahed

Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Rachel Getting Married) will be venturing into the world of animation with an upcoming adaptation of Dave Eggers’ Zeitoun. The Oscar-winning director announced this week that he plans to direct an animated film based on the non-fiction book which chronicles the real-life tale of a Syrian-American who stayed in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit to protect his home and business and help save other victims of the tragedy.

Demme said the book’s cover illustration by Rachell Sumpter inspired him to take the film into animated territory. Eggers is the acclaimed author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and also co-wrote the screenplay of Where the Wild Things Are for director Spike Jonze. According to The New York Times, Zeitoun doesn’t have a distributor or a release date at his point.

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