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‘Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk’ Will Get The Hollywood Treatment

HarperCollins

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, the 2012 novel by Dallas writer Ben Fountain, will be adapted for the big screen.

  The LA Times reports “Life of Pi” director and Academy Award winner Ang Lee will take the lead on the project. The script will be written by Simon Beaufoy, who also wrote the novel-to-film adaptation for "Slumdog Millionaire."

Billy Lynn follows the Bravo Squad, who are sent on a “victory tour” by President George W. Bush to reinvigorate support for the Iraq War. The novel won the National Book Critics Circle prize last year and landed on the National Book Award short list.

KERA’s Jerome Weeks spoke with Fountain about the novel in 2011.

A release date has not been set for the film version.

Former KERA staffer Krystina Martinez was an assistant producer. She produced local content for Morning Edition and KERANews.org. She also produced The Friday Conversation, a weekly series of conversations with North Texas newsmakers. Krystina was also the backup newscaster for the Texas Standard.