Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions announced this evening that they have acquired all rights in international English-speaking territories, Latin America and other key European territories to the upcoming David Foster Wallace biopic, The End of the Tour. As announced back in December, the project is set to star Jason Segel as the late author and Jesse Eisenberg as David Lipsky, author of the book “Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself,” on which the film is based. The Spectacular Now director James Ponsoldt is helming.
Published about a year and a half after the “Infinite Jest” author’s death, Lipsky’s book is a travelogue comprised of interviews he conducted with DFW in 1996 during the final week of the book tour for the novelist’s epic tome.
The only adaptation of a DFW book to date is John Krasinski’s stylish approach to the 1999 short story anthology, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. Ponsoldt’s upcoming attempt, which features an adapted screenplay by Donald Margulies, will function a bit more as a biopic, making this one of Segel’s more dramatic roles to date.
Kilburn Media fully financed the film, with Mark Manuel and Ted ONeal producing alongside David Kanter and Matt DeRoss for Anonymous Content and James Dahl of Modern Man Films. Anonymous Contents Paul Green will executive produce the film, which is scheduled to start production shortly.
