Written by bestselling author James Frey, and Jobie Hughes, the novel ‘I Am Number Four’, won’t be officially released until after the summer, yet it already has a big-screen adaptation that is well on its way down the development road.
The book, and film, will tell the story of nine teenage aliens who, after escaping from their home planet shortly before it gets destroyed by a rival alien race, decide to come to Earth, and hide out disguised as a bunch of adolescent high-school students.
The screenplay has already been written by the creators of ‘Smallville’, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, and D.J. Caruso (Disturbia) is currently attached to direct, with Alex Pettyfer (Beastly) signed on to play the titular role of Number Four. And recently, the next possible cast member has been announced, and is none other than District 9’s own Wikus (Sharlto Copley).
Sharlto has been in high demand since the release of District 9, and can be seen later this year play Captain ‘Howling Mad’ Murdock in the new A-Team movie, but is currently in talks to return to the sci-fi world, and play a character in I Am Number Four , that was a servant on his home planet, but acts as the adult guardian and mentor for the film’s main character; Number Four.
It’s not yet certain that Sharlto will sign on, but so far things seem promising, and as the movie is being produced by not only Transformers own Michael Bay, but sci-fi expert Steven Speilberg (who created Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and directed E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial), I Am Number Four should be a hugely successful sci-fi picture that, for now, is worth keeping an eye on.
