Fisher Stevens to Direct Adaptation of Philip Roth's 'American Pastoral'

Philip Roth’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1997 novel “American Pastoral” will be turned into a film by screenwriter John Romano (“The Lincoln Lawyer”) and director Fisher Stevens. Lakeshore Entertainment, which produced adaptations of Roth’s “The Human Stain” and “The Dying Animal,” is producing the project with Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, with filming set to begin early in 2013.

In “Pastoral,” Roth’s alter ego Nathan Zuckerman narrates the story of Seymour “Swede” Levov, whose great post-war life is thrown into disarray when his teenaged daughter commits an act of political terrorism during the Vietnam War protests of 1968. The book is the first novel in a trilogy that includes “The Human Stain.”

Lakeshore’s Tom Rosenberg and Gary Lucchesi are producing with Sidney Kimmel. SKE execs Jim Tauber and Matt Berenson are executive producers.

“Philip Roth is the great American author of our time,” said Rosenberg. “Fisher shares our passion for Roth’s literature, and he is a unique storyteller with his multi-layered past in the business as an actor, producer and director.”

Stevens is currently directing the Lionsgate crime comedy “Stand Up Guys” for SKE and Lakeshore, which also have “I, Frankenstein” in production for Lionsgate.