Stephen King Novel ‘The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon’ Getting the Movie Treatment (Exclusive)

Stephen King’s novel The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is heading to the screen.

Chris Romero, the former wife of late horror filmmaker George A. Romero, is teaming with It producer Roy Lee and Jon Berg of Vertigo Films as well as Ryan Silbert of Origin Story to produce a film adaptation of the 1999 novel.

The move happens under the looming shadow of the opening of It Chapter Two, the highly anticipated sequel to the highest-grossing horror movie of all time.

Tom Gordon tells of a young girl named Trisha McFarland who gets lost while hiking with her recently divorced mother and brother in the woods. Nine years old and scared of the dark, the girl winds up stumbling through the woods for nine days, wandering farther and farther from civilization even as she tries to make her way back home. As she walks, dehydration, hunger and exhaustion cause her to hallucinate, talking to several people, including her idol, a baseball player named Tom Gordon. But she also begins to believe that she’s being stalked by a supernatural beast known as The God of the Lost, and soon her ordeal becomes a test of both her sanity and her ability to fight for her life.

Related Stories

Movies

Hot Horror: Stephen King Adaptation 'The Boogeyman' Moves From Streaming to Theatrical (Exclusive)

Movies

'When Harry Met Sally,' 'Iron Man,' 'Little Mermaid,' 'Hairspray,' 'House Party,' 'Carrie' Enter National Film Registry

A search for a writer to tackle the script is underway.

Andrew Childs will executive produce the adaptation.

George Romero, who brought zombies into pop culture with his Night of the Living Dead movies, was initially involved in a Tom Gordon adaptation in the early 2000s, after having previously worked with King on Creepshow and The Dark Half. The project stalled, and Romero died in 2017.

Chris Romero, who was married to the director for three decades and worked with him via their shared Sanibel Films, sought to reanimate the project, teaming with Silbert, who is perhaps best known for working with Stan Lee to co-create the immersive audiobook, Stan Lee’s Alliances: A Trick of the Light.

The duo then partnered with Lee and Berg’s Vertigo. In addition to being a name in the horror world, Vertigo has strong King ties, having produced It and the upcoming sequel, It Chapter Two, and the upcoming sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep, among others.

“I’m thrilled that my book is being brought to the screen, and that George’s company is involved. Chris (Romero) has worked long and hard to make this project happen,” King said Wednesday in a statement.

King is repped by Paradigm.