Stop-motion giant Henry Selick is adapting Neil Gaiman’s “The Ocean at the End of the Lane,” with plans to make it his next feature (via Variety).
Selick says Gaiman’s 2013 novel is the author’s crowning achievement and sees it as a companion piece, almost a “sequel.” to the duo’s cult classic “Coraline.” He already has a 35-page treatment and tons of artwork and concept designs, and is shopping the project around to buyers. Here’s the synopsis:
The story follows a young boy who accidentally brings an evil entity from another reality into his world, and he needs the help of three mysterious women to try to get rid of the threat1. The main narrative starts as a middle-aged man returns to his childhood home and recalls a magical encounter he had at age seven with a girl named Lettie Hempstock, who leads him on an adventure through a beautiful and terrifying supernatural world.
“Instead of a child going to this other world with a monstrous mother, it’s a monstrous mother who comes into our world to wreak havoc on a kid’s life,” Selick tells Variety.
Selick has directed five features in his 30 years filmmaking career: “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “James and the Giant Peach,” “Monkeybone,” “Coraline” and “Wendell & Wild.”