Paul Feig To Helm ‘The School For Good And Evil’ Adaptation For Netflix

Paul Feig has signed on to direct The School For Good And Evil, a Netflix film adaptation of Soman Chainani’s New York Times bestselling debut novel and the first of six in The School for Good and Evil series.

David Magee (Life of Pi, Mary Poppins Returns) and Laura Solon (Office Christmas Party, Let It Snow) are adapting the screenplay which follows best friends Sophie and Agatha who uncover where fairytale legacies go to school: the School for Good and Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains.

Sophie, with her princess ambitions, knows she’ll be picked for the School for Good and join the ranks of past students like Cinderella and Snow White. Meanwhile, Agatha, with her grim aesthetic and wicked cat, seems a natural fit for the villains in the School for Evil. Yet soon the girls find their fortunes reversed: Sophie is dropped into the School for Evil, Agatha into the School for Good. But what if the mistake is the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are? Their friendship will be put to the test in this thrilling and comedic story where the only way out of a fairy tale is to live through one.

Joe Roth, Jeffrey Kirschenbaum, Jane Startz, and Feigco’s Feig and Laura Fischer are producing the project with Zack Roth, Patricia Riggen, and Chainani serving as exec producers.

Chainani series has sold over 2.5 million copies and translated into 30 languages across six continents. The final book, The School of Good and Evil: One True King, will be released by HarperCollins on June 2.

“To have one of your favorite directors adapt your book into a film for Netflix is an honor and a dream,” said Chainani. “Paul Feig is a brilliant filmmaker and a master of tone — a perfect fit for the twists and turns of The School For Good & Evil. I have no doubt that he will make a true fairy tale classic.”

Added Feig, “I’m truly excited to bring this amazing, touching, funny, and empowering world that Soman created in his wonderful books to life. I feel like a frog that just turned into a prince.”

Feig serves as an executive producer of the new HBO Max series Love Life starring Anna Kendrick and is also tackling monster movie Dark Army for Universal. He is repped by CAA.