Espinosa May Direct the Film Adaptation of the Novel “Child 44”

Following his success behind the camera on Denzel Washington’s Safe House, Daniel Espinosa may soon be helming his next big Hollywood film project…

Summit/Lionsgate is reportedly in early talks with the 35-year-old Swedish filmmaker/screenwriter of Chilean origin to direct an adaptation of Tom Rob Smith’s novel Child 44.

Daniel Espinosa

The novel, which has been adapted for the big screen by Richard Price, centers on the central figure of Leo Demidov, a disgraced lawman in Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union, who is assigned to investigate a series of gruesome child murders.

The book is based on the Rostov Ripper, the Ukrainian serial killer Andrei Chikatilo, who was executed for 52 murders and was enabled by the institutional denial that existed in Soviet political culture at the time.

Child 44Espinosa, who had his breakthrough moment with Snabba Cash, made his Hollywood debut on Safe House, and has been in high demand since.

He’s also reportedly contemplating an adaptation of James Frey’s addiction and recovery story A Million Little Pieces. The book on the first track for a film adaptation until Frey admitted he embellished his story.