Deadline brings word that Oscar-nominated screenwriter Anthony McCarten (Bohemian Rhapsody, Darkest Hour, The Theory of Everything) will be writing the screenplay for a narrative feature adaptation based on the Three Identical Strangers documentary.
The Three Identical Strangers documentary told the fascinating true story of Robert Shafran, David Kellman, and Eddy Galland, three complete strangers who inadvertently discover that they are identical triplets separated at birth. Set in New York and Long Island, the hit documentary explores how the 19-year-olds’ joyous reunion catapulted them to international fame, and also set a chain of extraordinary and disturbing events in motion.
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Raw, Film4 and SKE won the life rights of Shafran and Kellman last year. The documentary premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and was awarded the Special Jury Prize for Documentary Storytelling. Three Identical Strangers was the highest-grossing limited release documentary of the year on its opening weekend and won the DGA Award for Documentary as well as prizes from Critics Choice and National Board of Review. The documentary was also nominated for a BAFTA but somehow missed out on a Best Documentary Oscar nomination.
From Raw, Film4, and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, the currently untitled movie will be produced by McCarten, Raw’s Katherine Butler and Dimitri Doganis, and SKE’s Sidney Kimmel and John Penotti. Executive producers include Film4’s Daniel Battsek, Ollie Madden, Submarine’s Josh Braun and Dan Braun, and documentary director Tom Wardle. Ollie Madden will oversee for Film4 with Ross Katz and Mark O’Connor overseeing for SKE.
