Quarantine: The Loners – From Book to Screen

We’re obviously big fans here at Novel Novice of Quarantine: The Loners by Lex Thomas — of course, because we chose it to be our September Book of the Month! And if you haven’t read it yet, you really should. It’s in stores now, so grab yourself a copy and start reading.

And if our word isn’t enough to convince you, then how about this: even before this book hit store shelves, Black Forest Film Group snapped up the film rights. Yes, you heard me. Quarantine: The Loners is already on its way to becoming a major motion picture, with Lex and Thomas themselves working on the screenplay adaptation of their own novel. (While also working on the book’s sequel, too! Guys, you’re making the rest of us look like lazy bums …)

Here’s what Variety said when the news was first announced earlier this year:

Described as a cross between “The Warriors” and “Lord of the Flies,” action-thriller concerns the outbreak of a virus that is deadly to anyone after puberty. A typical American high school becomes a battleground after the military quarantines more than a thousand teens, who subsequently form violent gangs based on previously established social cliques. Instead of battling for popularity, the students must fight for survival. Protags are two brothers whose relationship is tested when a young girl threatens to come between them.

And here’s what Lex and Thomas wrote about the news on their blog — taking note that both had originally set out to be screenwriters:

Tom and I took an idea we thought would make an awesome story and tackled it in a medium that would do it justice — a novel. We’d always known this idea would make a killer movie, but the challenges we’d already faced trying to get a script produced made us wonder if we shouldn’t try a different format. Neither one of us had ever written a novel before, and the thought of writing prose together seemed extremely intimidating. But with a lot of encouragement and guidance from our managers, our agent, and our friends, we dove in.

So keep your eyes peeled for more updates about the movie adaptation of Quarantine: The Lonersas news develops. The book has all the makings of a big screen hit, so I can’t wait to see it come to fruition!

For the comments: Let’s play the fantasy casting game! Who would you like to see portray David, Will, and all the others in the movie adaptation of Quarantine: The Loners?