After impressing audiences and critics alike with supporting performances in The Odd Life of Timothy Green and We Are What We Are, teen actress Odeya Rush has booked Sony’s upcoming adaptation of the massively popular R.L. Stine book series Goosebumps.
When people think of the best-selling children’s book series of all time, Harry Potter, Magic Tree House and The Chronicles of Narnia usually rise to the top of the list, but Stine’s creepy anthology series is actually the second most popular children’s book series, just behind Harry Potter. It’s been published in more than 32 languages, sold more than 300 million copies worldwide and even spawned TV and video-game adaptations. Despite its wild success, Hollywood has somehow never produced a feature film adaptation. That is, until now.
In news that may sadden you, the Goosebumps movie under way is coming from actor Jack Black and director Rob Letterman (the same team behind Gulliver’s Travels). Given how awful that adaptation was, I’m not hopeful for Goosebumps, and emerging plot details don’t ease my concern. Black will play Mr. Shivers, an author who, like Stine, pens installments in a creepy book series. When his creations start coming to life, Shivers is forced to hide from them.
Rush will play Shivers’ niece, described as “quirky and mysterious,” who teams up with a neighborhood boy (currently uncast) to save her uncle from the monsters.
The teen actress is taking off in a big way. With now two popular book adaptations, The Giver and Goosebumps, in the works, as well as a Biblical epic in which she plays Mary, Rush may well become a household name within the next few years.
Are you excited for the Goosebumps adaptation? Are Black and Letterman the right team to adapt Stine’s revered novels, or is this film already looking like a terrible idea? I’m leaning towards the latter, but of course, I want to hear what you guys have to say. As always, feel free to sound off below!