Ain’t it Cool News reports that New Line Cinema has hired screenwriter Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons) to develop a film treatment of Susanna Clarke’s book “Johathan Strange & Mr. Norrell”, which I’ve read and written about.

Although Hollywood film treatments of great books are usually terrible, New Line of course also produced and distributed Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films, which while not perfect were certainly very, very good in many respects.

I’m not sure how this book would translate to the screen (although there is certainly enough action and “magic stuff’ to sustain a visual film), or how approachable it would be to a mainstream audience. But a proper treatment could be exceptionally cool. This is particularly exciting for an author like Clarke for whom this is her first published work (to my knowledge).