Adaptation of Iain Reid's debut novel set for Netflix premiere in 2020
The screen version of I'm Thinking of Ending Things slated to premiere on Sept. 4
American writer and director Charlie Kaufman's film I'm Thinking of Ending Things is coming to Netflix.
The film is an adaptation of Ottawa-born writer Iain Reid's debut novel of the same name.
I'm Thinking of Ending Things is a psychological thriller about a woman who, on her way to meet her boyfriend's parents for the first time, struggles to determine whether she's happy in the relationship.
Tension between the couple bubbles over when the girlfriend considers ending their relationship — and is eventually left stranded on a rural road.
The 2016 novel was shortlisted for the Frank Hegyi Award for Emerging Authors and the Shirley Jackson Award.
According to Netflix, the film is "an exploration of regret, longing & the fragility of the human spirit."
Reid is an author and memoirist. His debut memoir, One Bird's Choice, was published in 2010. His 2013 memoir The Truth About Luck was awarded the $10,000 RBC Taylor Prize Emerging Writer Award in 2015 and his 2018 novel, Foe, is optioned for film by production company Anonymous Content.
Kaufman's adaptation of I'm Thinking of Ending Things, set to premiere on Sept. 4, 2020, stars Irish actress Jessie Buckley, American actor Jesse Plemons, Australian Toni Collette and Englishman David Thewlis.
"I've always been a huge fan of [Kaufman]. His movies have meant a lot to me, so it really was surreal," Reid said in a 2018 interview with CBC Radio's All In A Day.
Kaufman won the Oscar for best original screenplay in 2005 for Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind.
He is also the screenwriter of the 1999 cult classic Being John Malkovich.
"I think the film is going to be its own entity. With someone like Charlie, what's exciting is he's going to do his own thing. I don't want it to be just a film version of the book, I want it to be standalone."
"I think because Charlie's attached to it now, a lot of people are going to the book for the first time. That's nice for me. I think anybody who writes a book, you're just sort of hopeful that people will find it," Reid told CBC Radio in 2018.
"It's sort of giving ... the book a second life."
