Osborne and Ben Cookson (Waiting For Anya) will adapt the novel for screen. Producers on the feature will be Bad Penny’s Phin Glynn (Mad To Be Normal) and Daz Spencer Lovesey (Waiting for Anya).

The novel takes place in modern day Cambodia and sees an English teacher, Robert Grieve, win a satchel’s worth of money and decide to take a journey deeper into the wilder side of the country. Coming up against a scheming American, a crooked police officer and a darker side of Cambodia, Grieve follows his journey to a dramatic climax.

The film will be executive-produced by Norman Merry (The Nice Guys) and in association with post-production house Lipsync. Local production in Cambodia will be facilitated by Nicholas Simon (A Prayer Before Dawn) and IndoChina Productions. The deal was negotiated on Osborne’s behalf by Adam Eaglin at The Cheney Agency.

Osborne’s currently has a number of novels in development, including The Forgiven, which is being adapted by John Michael McDonagh and is set to star Ralph Fiennes, Mark Strong and Rebecca Hall, and Beautiful Animals, which has been set up at Amazon with John Lesher producing.

Bad Penny is also currently developing the Graham Greene novel The Captain And The Enemy, which has been adapted by William Boyd (Chaplin). Their last two movies, Mad To Be Normal and Waiting For Anya, starred David Tennant and Elisabeth Moss, and Anjelica Huston and Jean Reno, respectively.

Osborne said of his latest option, “I knew as soon as I met the Bad Penny team that I had found the right people to adapt Hunters In The Dark to the screen. A novel is a very intimate and interior thing, but it is always intriguing to see how it might be developed in a different medium. As a co-writer on the adaptation, however, I feel even more confident that this version will be the one that does my book full justice.”

https://deadline.com/2018/09/bad-penny-productions-options-cambodia-thriller-novel-hunters-in-the-dark-lawrence-osborne-1202457327/