Gavin Hood (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) is in talks to direct an adaptation of Gay and Laney Salisbury’s book “The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic” for Walden Media and producer Mark Johnson.
The following is how publisher W.W. Norton & Co. describes the book:
In 1925, a deadly diphtheria epidemic swept through icebound Nome, Alaska. The life-saving serum was a thousand miles away, and a blizzard was brewing. Airplanes could not fly in such conditions: only the dogs could do it. Racing against death, twenty dog teams relayed the serum across the Alaskan wilderness as newspapers nationwide headlined the drama, enthralling an entire generation. The heroic dash to Nome inspired the annual Iditarod Dog Sled Race in Alaska and immortalized Balto, the lead dog whose arrival in Nome over a snow-blown trail was an American legend in the making. His bronze statue still stands in New York City’s Central Park, in dedication to the “Endurance, Fidelity and Intelligence” of the dogs that saved Nome. This is their story, the greatest dog story never fully told, until now.
Sean O’Keefe and Will Staples wrote the adaptation, which is targeted for a summer start.
