Fox, Webb reteam for 'Spectacular Now'

Fox Searchlight and Marc Webb have closed a deal to bring Tim Tharp's coming-of-age novel The Spectacular Now to the screen.

The story centres on a fast-living high school student who finds his life turned upside down by an encounter with a shy girl. Tharp's novel was a finalist in the National Book Awards last year. Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber are on board to write the adaptation.

"It's a really fantastic novel about a 17-year-old charm monger who drinks too much," Webb told Slash Film. "And its about how he's negotiating the world of growing up. It's a very realistic portrayal of what it's like to be a kid. And it has a very frank depiction of sex, alcohol and that sort of thing."

Discussing the project with Variety, producer Tom McNulty said: "It's somewhere between Sideways, Catcher In The Rye and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. It's a heartbreaking story about a kid who realises his youth is about over."

The movie marks the second collaboration for Webb and Fox. The studio will release his debut feature 500 Days Of Summer later this year.