Cameron Crowe Lines Up Another Project: 'Beautiful Boy'

Writer/director Cameron Crowe has been quite busy as of late and he's only getting busier. He recently cast Emma Stone in an untitled romantic comedy (likely called Deep Tiki) set in Hawaii. Now reports say he has set the follow-up to that film, too.

Crowe is moving forward with Beautiful Boy, based on a novel by David Sheff, about a family dealing with their son's meth addiction. Crowe will write and direct the project. He'll also incorporate elements from a related novel called Tweak, written by the subject of the first book, Sheff's son Nic.

Read more after the jump, including what possible HBO project Crowe is working on.

The Wrap broke the news of Crowe's involvement with Beautiful Boy, a project that's been gestating since being optioned before its publication in 2008. Paramount had the project, considered Steven Zaillian (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) for it, but it seems the rights lapsed and now it's at Sony, where Crowe hangs his hat.

Sheff conducted the final major interview with John Lennon in 1980 and was so inspired by Lennon's life that he began a family of his own. In fact, the book's title comes from a Lennon song. Then, in 2005, Sheff wrote a New York Times Magazine article about how the family dealt with his son's addition to meth, which he then turned into a New York Times best-selling novel in 2008. The son in question, Nic Sheff, wrote his take on it at the same time.

As stated above, Crowe's script will combine the two books and he'll aim to shoot if once he's done with Deep Tiki, which is currently looking for a male lead. The Wrap also says Crowe is working on a project for HBO called Telegraph Avenue based on the upcoming novel by Michael Chabon. (Read an excerpt from that book here.)

Going from a romantic comedy into a family drama, especially one with musical origins, sounds very much like a trajectory Cameron Crowe would be on. However who knows what can happen in the years it'll take to not only complete the first film, but write the second and then possibly film it.