Rising actors Amandla Stenberg and Nick Robinson will star in Everything Everything, MGM and Alloy Entertainment’s adaptation of the YA book by Nicola Yoon.
Stenberg has officially closed his deal while Robinson is in final negotiations, according to insiders.
Yoon’s debut novel follows Maddy, a teen who has severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), a rare disease that causes her to be allergic to practically everything. She has spent 17 years hiding out in her home, only seeing her mother and her nurse, Carla. But when a boy named Olly moves in next door, Maddy begins to fall in love.
Stenberg will play Maddy while Robinson will play Olly, who is battling his own demons.
Stella Meghie, who made her feature directorial debut with Jean of the Joneses, is directing the project, which is eyeing a September start. Les Morgenstein and Elysa Dutton of Alloy are producing.
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J. Mills Goodloe, who wrote the script for the Blake Lively starrer Age of Adaline and Fox 2000’s upcoming Idris Elba drama film The Mountains Between Us, wrote the script.
The book, which hit shelves last September via Random House’s Delacorte, debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times YA best-seller list. It was sold in 34 territories and 32 languages and has been on the NYT best-seller list for a total of seven months.
The project is the latest original movie from MGM, which is moving on the project following the strong worldwide success of its romantic drama Me Before You. The weepie that starred Emilia Clarke has grossed over $172 million on a budget of $20 million.
The casting is a coup for Stenberg, who may be best known for playing the character Rue in The Hunger Games. She starred in As You Are, a drama that was awarded the special jury prize at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, and appeared in TV’s Sleepy Hollow as well as co-starred in the NBC comedy Mr. Robinson. She’s attached to star in The Hate U Give, a YA novel inspired by Black Lives Matter, that’s with Fox 2000 and Temple Hill. She is repped by UTA and Del Shaw.
Robinson was one of the co-stars of the billion dollar-grossing Jurassic World who also starred in Rob Reiner’s 2015 drama Being Charlie. He was last seen in The 5th Wave with Chloe Moretz. He is repped by UTA, Principato Young and Felker Toczek.
