Thea Sharrock, the filmmaker behind the hit romantic drama "Me Before You," has been chosen to direct the feature film adaptation of "The Things We Leave Unfinished," a love story by Fourth Wing author Rebecca Yarros for Lionsgate.
Todd Lieberman, the producer behind Lionsgate's global smash hit "The Housemaid" and the sci-fi action hit "War Machine," is producing the project through his banner Hidden Pictures.
The story revolves around a woman who, after a devastating public divorce in a big city, returns to her home in the Rockies where she reluctantly works with an arrogant bestselling author to complete her late great-grandmother's WWII love story. In this process, they uncover secrets of the past and their undeniable attraction brings them closer together.
Arash Amel, known for his work on "A Private War" and "The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare," has adapted the novel for the big screen. Yarros, who previously wrote several romance stories before becoming a big name author with her Fourth Wing fantasy books, including "Things We Leave Unfinished," is executive producing the project through her production company Full Measures Productions.
Lionsgate has had considerable success with adapting popular books, and this project is no exception. The company recently won a seven-studio bidding war for the adaptation rights to "The Correspondent" by Virginia Evans, and has "The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping" set for release later this year.
"Thea has an incredible gift for emotional storytelling and is the perfect filmmaker to bring Rebecca Yarros' sweeping, romantic, and heartbreaking story to the screen," said Lionsgate Motion Picture Group president Erin Westerman in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
The project is being overseen by Scott O'Brien and Maria Ascanio at Lionsgate and Hidden Pictures' Kleinbart Elter, who brought in the project. Sharrock, who began her career as a theatre director in England, directed "Ladies First," a gender-reversal comedy starring Sacha Baron Cohen and Rosamund Pike that debuted on Netflix last week. Her feature debut was the weepie "Me Before You," which starred Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin and took in over $200 million worldwide.
As a theatre director, her production of "After the Dance" won the Olivier Award for best revival, and it was her acclaimed 2007 revival of "Equus" that marked Daniel Radcliffe's Broadway debut. Sharrock is represented by CAA.
