Summit Taps 'Jane Eyre' Screenwriter to Adapt 'Night Circus' for Big Screen (Exclusive)

Moira Buffini will pen the big-screen adaptation of the Erin Morgenstern novel.

4:09 PM PST 2/21/2012 by Borys Kit

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Moira Buffini

Moira Buffini, who wrote the recent adaptation of Jane Eyre, has been tapped to pen Summit’s big-screen take of The Night Circus.

'Harry Potter' Producer in Talks With Summit About Fantasy Project 'Night Circus' (Exclusive)

Summit Buys Rights to 'Night Circus'

Harry Potter producer David Heyman and Jeff Clifford are producing the adaptation of the Erin Morgenstern fantasy, which hit book stores last September and was a New York Times best-seller.

The story is set at the beginning of the 19th century, telling the story of two young magicians, pawns in an age-old rivalry between their mercurial, illusionist fathers, and the enchanted circus where their competition and romances play out. The fates of everyone involved, from creators and performers to patrons, hang in the duo’s balance.

Summit picked up the rights to the book January 2011.

The story’s mix of Victorian age and English propriety, young angst and supernatural elements could be right up Buffini’s alley. In addition to penning Eyre, which starred Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender and was a Scripter Award nominee, the English scribe also wrote Neil Jordan’s upcoming Byzantium, which stars Saorise Ronan and Gemma Arterton as a daughter-mother duo who claim to be vampires.

Buffini, repped by CAA and UK's United Agents, also wrote the Tamara Drewe, based on the graphic novel.

Overseeing the project are Erik Feig, president, production of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, and Jeyun Choi, Summit’s creative executive.