Erotic Novel 'Beautiful Bastard' Getting Movie at Constantin Film (Exclusive)

11:44 AM PST 2/12/2013 by Andy Lewis, Borys Kit

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The steamy tale of an intern and her media-mogul boss, which began as "Twilight"-inspired fan-fiction hit "The Office," goes on sale Feb. 12.

Constantin Film has acquired movie rights to Beautiful Bastard, the erotic novel about the relationship between an intern and her media-mogul boss that publishes Tuesday.

'Beautiful Bastard' Authors Offer Sneak Peek at Long-Awaited Book (Exclusive)

Jeremy Bolt, best known for producing the Resident Evil franchise, is attached to produce the adaptation.

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Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the company paid a mid-six-figure fee for the option.

Beautiful Bastard tells the story of Chloe Mills, an MBA student interning at a media conglomerate who begins a torrid love-hate relationship with her boss, Bennett Ryan, who has just returned from France to take a prominent role in the family company.

Bastard began life as the Twilight-inspired fan-fiction hit The Office, which first appeared online in 2009 and was downloaded more than 2 million times before being taken offline by its original author, Christina Hobbs.

FIRST LOOK: 'Beautiful Bastard' Chapter One

Twilight fan fiction is considered one of the most prolific and creative areas of the online phenomena. While all the stories riff on the Edward Cullen-Bella Swan relationship, most take the love affair in such radically new directions as to strain the connection to the original inspiration.

Most famously, Fifty Shades of Grey also originated as a fan-fiction story titled Master of the Universe.

EXCLUSIVE: 'Beautiful Bastard' Authors Offer Sneak Peek at Long-Awaited Book

In 2011, Hobbs and her new writing partner, Lauren Billings, decided to rework The Office for print publication as an adjunct to a YA novel the pair were writing. Beautiful Bastard, the result of that collaboration, goes on sale Tuesday under the duo's pen name, Christina Lauren.

With the Fifty Shades movie making progress at Universal and Focus Features -- screenwriter Kelly Marcel is at work on the script -- and erotica continuing to register strong sales for publishers, producers have been actively pursuing similar projects.

With its pre-existing fan base and a major publishing deal from Simon & Schuster imprint Gallery Books, Beautiful Bastard is a strong contender to fill that slot.

Billings and Hobbs were repped by Gersh and Waxman Leavell Literary.

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