Oscar-nominated writer Robert Rodat has been tapped to adapt Thomas Mullen's novel "The Last Town on Earth" for DreamWorks Pictures. Set in 1918, the book tells the story of how a small rural town reels when a self-imposed quarantine fails to keep an influenza epidemic at bay and the foundations of life and mortality come apart at the sea. Random House will publish the novel. David Beaubaire is overseeing for the studio. Rodat received an Oscar nomination for penning "Saving Private Ryan," which was released domestically by DreamWorks. He wrote "The Patriot" and has "Olympia" set up at Soy. Rodat is repped by Hohman Maybank Lieb.