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Film rights to Michelle Paver's Dark Matter (Orion) have been sold to DNA Films, which is developing the project with Film4.
The novel tells the story of a 1937 British expedition to the high Arctic which takes a hugely sinister turn. The novel was called "Jack London meets Stephen King" by novelist Jeffery Deaver.
Andrew Macdonald of DNA Films called novel "a classic ghost story, both haunting and visceral," saying: "From the moment I read it, I knew I had to produce it… If M R James had visited the Arctic, this is what he'd have written."
Macdonald is one of the UK's most prominent film producers, having worked on "Trainspotting", "Shallow Grave", "A Life Less Ordinary", "The Beach", "Never Let Me Go", "28 Days Later", "The Last King of Scotland" and "Dredd".
Agent Peter Cox of Redhammer said: "I could have sold film rights to Dark Matter dozens of times. Interest was unprecedented. But Michelle loves and admires Andrew's work, and when they met, it was clear that the understanding and chemistry was there."
Screenwriter Dennis Kelly is adapting the work for film.