Passage Pictures led by Uri Singer (White Noise, Tesla), has secured rights to bring Peter Viertel’s 1984 novel American Skin to the big screen.
Production has been earmarked for Marbella, Spain, by mid-2024 pending the resolution of the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Singer has brought on rising Spanish filmmaker and shorts and commercials director Mariano Schoendorff Ares to adapt the screenplay and direct.
American Skin explores the expatriate lifestyle and cultural clashes along the Costa del Sol. The story centres on David Brandt, a handsome Californian who arrives in Marbella hoping to soothe the wounds of a recently ended affair and escape haunting memories.
The late German-American Viertel wrote nine novels and 11 features. He co-wrote the screenplays for Alfred Hitchcock’s Saboteur, John Huston’s The African Queen, and Clint Eastwood’s White Hunter Black Heart.
Ares has a personal connection to the story. He would visit Marbela as a child and his girlfriend’s grandparents and Viertel were friends.
Passage Pictures CEO Singer said, “Peter Viertel’s legacy as a storyteller is undeniable. To adapt this hidden gem of a novel with Mariano, who is on the cusp of what promises to be a stellar filmmaking journey and has a very personal connection to the story, is a privilege for all of us at Passage Pictures.”
Singer is represented by Knol Law PC. The Viertel estate is represented by Thomas J. Kuhnke, and Alan Nevins at Renaissance Literary & Talent.