EXCLUSIVE: Lumanity Productions announced that a feature film adaptation deal has been inked with Christine Mangan for her novel The Continental Affair.  

This adds to Mangan’s previously optioned debut novel Tangerine originally signed by Imperative Entertainment for producers George Clooney and Grant Heslov at Smokehouse with Scarlett Johansson attached to star.  With an eye towards international co-production, Lumanity writer/director Robert Budreau (Born to be Blue, Stockholm), is set to write, direct and co-produce the film.

Published by Flatiron, a division of Macmillan, in 2023, The Continental Affair is a glamorous early 1960s romantic crime caper about Henri and Louise who fatefully cross paths one morning in Europe. He is living in exile after deserting his post in the French Algerian war. Louise is running from a shadowy past in London and the chains of gendered expectations. When she steals the money that Henri is supposed to protect, the two end up in a cat-and-mouse chase across continental Europe, from London and Paris to Belgrade and Istanbul with an unlikely bond forming when they share past crimes and secrets. And as their train hurtles toward its final destination with an assassin on their heels, Henri and Louise must decide what the future will hold and whether it involves one another.

“I am thrilled to bring Christine’s brilliant novel to the big screen. I love the suspenseful and psychologically complex Hitchcockian tones of this European adventure. The two richly layered lead characters are fantastic roles for actors and the story is an evocative and fresh take on the romantic crime caper.” says Budreau.

“I’m thrilled to have Robert Budreau at the helm of The Continental Affair‘s adaptation, and to see his enthusiasm and vision for the project bring to life the (mis)adventures of Louise and Henri on screen,” says Mangan. 

This feature film option deal was brokered by Lumanity’s Budreau with CAA on behalf of Mangan.

Budreau is represented by CAA, and Amotz Zakai, Adam Riback and Chris Davis at Echo Lake Entertainment. Mangan is represented by CAA and her publishing agent is Elisabeth Weed at The Book Group.