A24 and Square Peg are in negotiations to adapt Emma Cline’s bestselling novel The Guest, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Writer-director Lorene Scafaria is talks to direct with Stranger Things star Sadie Sink in talks to star and produce alongside Square Peg.

Cline‘s 2023 novel, published by Penguin Random House, centers on a calculating grifter who navigates the treacherous world of summer in the Hamptons.

The full synopsis reads: “Summer is coming to a close on the East End of Long Island, and Alex is no longer welcome. A misstep at a dinner party, and the older man she’s been staying with dismisses her with a ride to the train station and a ticket back to the city. With few resources and a waterlogged phone, but gifted with an ability to navigate the desires of others, Alex stays on Long Island and drifts like a ghost through the hedged lanes, gated driveways, and sun-blasted dunes of a rarefied world that is, at first, closed to her. Propelled by desperation and a mutable sense of morality, she spends the week leading up to Labor Day moving from one place to the next, a cipher leaving destruction in her wake.“

The Guest was longlisted for the Pen/Faulkner award, as well as named a Belletrist Book Club pick and best book of the year by a myriad of publications including The New Yorker, Time, and NPR.

Cline‘s recent book release Switzy was longlisted for this year‘s Booker Prize. Her 2016 debut novel, The Girls, sold in a three-book deal at the time worth $2 million. The Girls was loosely inspired by the 1969 Manson family murders.

In a 2023 interview with Vanity Fair Cline said of The Guest, “I started it in 2016. I love books like The Talented Mr. Ripley, where there are characters who you follow through the narrative that are operating outside the bounds of our moral code. There’s something fun about following that kind of chaos. The setting came out of, What would be a fun foil for this kind of character, and what kind of world makes sense?“

Sink most recently starred in Spider-Man: Brand New Day in which she made her official MCU debut as Jean Grey. She will reprise the role in the new X-Men film slated for a 2028 release that will also star Kit Connor (Cyclops), Christopher Abbott (Prof. X), Samara Weaving (Emma Frost), Inde Navarrette (Rogue) and Maya Boyd (Storm). Adam Driver was cast as the villain Mr. Sinister.

In addition to directing Hustlers starring Jennifer Lopez, Scafaria‘s other writing and directing credits include Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, The Meddler, and the adapted screenplay for Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Her TV credits include New Girl, Succession and HBO‘s I Love LA, which she serves as executive producer and director.

Sink is represented by WME, Peikoff Mahan and imPRint. Scafaria is repped by UTA and Sloane Offer.

Deadline first reported the news.

Black Bear has nabbed the North American rights to Honeymoon / Funeral, the romantic comedy from director Nahnatchka Khan and starring Rebecca Ferguson, Greta Lee and Carrie Coon.

The gay rom com, shopped first at the inaugural Toronto: The Market by FilmNation, is written by Julia Bicknell and follows Ferguson and Lee star as two women who meet on a flight from Los Angeles to London. One is going to her honeymoon by herself after being left at the altar by her girlfriend, while the other is headed home for her mother’s funeral.

The fellow travelers wind up spending the week together, while The White Lotus star Coon stars as Sarah, the ex-fiancée of Lee’s character. The film wrapped production in London last month and is in post production.

“Honeymoon / Funeral is an original and hilarious story that is deeply human, anchored by the performances of Rebecca, Greta, and Carrie, three of the best actresses working today,” Katie Anderson, Black Bear’s executive vp of acquisitions, said in a statement. “We can’t wait to partner with our friends at MRC and FilmNation to share this world that Nahnatchka and Julia have created with audiences.”

Khan, who directed in the rom-com space the Ali Wong starrer Always Be My Maybe, and Jennifer Carreras are producing for Fierce Baby, with Bicknell also producing. MRC financed and oversaw production, with FilmNation Entertainment acting as the worldwide sales agent.

Black Bear will add Honeymoon / Funeral to a release slate that includes Wicker, starring Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgard, and Peter Dinklage; Guy Ritchie’s Wife & Dog, led by Benedict Cumberbatch, Rosamund Pike and Anthony Hopkins; and David Leitch’s Jason Statham Stole My Bike, starring Jason Statham and Hannah Waddingham.

MRC’s earlier releases include The Love Hypothesis, Wuthering Heights, All of You, American Fiction and Knives Out. On the TV front, MRC produced Poker Face, Terminal List, Ted, Ozark and House of Cards.