Following their hit Showtime series The Curse, Emma Stone and Nathan Fielder are once again teaming with A24, though this time as behind the camera.
Stone, 34, and Fielder, 40, are attached to the hot book proposal Checkmate by Ben Mezrich, whose books have been adapted into films 21, The Social Network and Dumb Money, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Stone will produce alongside her husband Dave McCary through their Fruit Tree production company, while Fielder is attached to direct.
There is no screenwriter attached at this time, though the report adds the deal for the book proposal rights has either fully closed or is closing soon.
The feature film package is solely based on a 12-page book proposal about the true chess cheating scandal involving Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann.
Following their hit Showtime series The Curse, Emma Stone and Nathan Fielder are once again teaming with A24, though this time as behind the camera
Stone, 34, and Fielder, 40, are attached to the hot book proposal Checkmate by Ben Mezrich, whose books have been adapted into films 21, The Social Network and Dumb Money, according to The Hollywood Reporter
The feature film package is solely based on a 12-page book proposal about the true chess cheating scandal involving Magnus Carlsen (above) and Hans Niemann
It’s unclear if either Stone or Fielder will be eyeing any acting roles in the project or if they’ll only stay behind-the-scenes on this one.
The story laid out in Mezrich’s proposal is still fairly new, following 33-year-old Norwegian chess Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen and 20-year-old American Grandmaster Hans Niemann.
Both Carlsen and Niemann faced each other at the 2022 Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis, with Niemann ultimately defeating him.
They squared off again at the Julius Baer International Cup, though Carlsen resigned after just one move, adding fuel to the fire he started after a cryptic tweet.
Then in September 2022, Carlsen accused Niemann of cheating, which rocked the chess world, though an analysis by anti-cheating expert Ken Regan found no evidence of cheating.
A month later, an analysis of Niemann’s matches claimed he ‘likely cheated’ in over 100 matches, with Chess.com suspending Niemann.
The San Francisco native fired back with a $100 million lawsuit against Carlsen, Chess.com, Play Magnus Group and American Grandmaster Hiraku Nakamura, who accused Niemann of cheating in Chess.com online tournaments.
The lawsuit was ultimately thrown out by a federal judge in late June 2023, though in August 2023, Chess.com announced a settlement had been reached, with Niemann’s status on Chess.com fully restored.
The story laid out in Mezrich’s proposal is still fairly new, following 33-year-old Norwegian chess Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen and 20-year-old American Grandmaster Hans Niemann (above)
Both Carlsen and Niemann faced each other at the 2022 Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis, with Niemann ultimately defeating him
Then in September 2022, Carlsen accused Niemann of cheating, which rocked the chess world, though an analysis by anti-cheating expert Ken Regan found no evidence of cheating
The San Francisco native fired back with a $100 million lawsuit against Carlsen, Chess.com, Play Magnus Group and American Grandmaster Hiraku Nakamura, who accused Niemann of cheating in Chess.com online tournaments
The book proposal that has circulated revealed the book will follow not only Carlsen and Niemann’s rivalry and scandal, but will be set amid the rise of the billion-dollar chess industry and the, ‘collision of tradition and innovation’ within the game.
Checkmate is also unique in that different producers put together packages for the same project and then went out to various streamers and studios.
Ron Howard was attached to direct one package with Air writer Alex Convery that was pitched at Amazon.
Netflix and Apple were also bidding on another package that had Taron Egerton attached to star while Harry Potter producer David Heyman had a package out at Warner Bros., with sources claiming six total producers were involved.
While the various packages and offers were being considered, A24 came in with an offer that guaranteed seven-figures, with a chess move twist: the offer had a 30-minute timer.
The offer was quickly accepted, with an insider claiming, ‘I’ve never seen A24 do that before,’ and another source adding the offer left agents and execs, ‘heads spinning.’
