Mike Fleming

River Road Entertainment has acquired the rights to Pulitzer Prize finalist Greg Grandin’s Fordlandia: The Rise And Fall Of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City. Screenwriter Ben Coccio, who most recently penned Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines starring Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper, will write the script. River Road’s Bill Pohlad will produce.

The 2009 book was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. The film will be based on the experiences of the American men who carried out the imperialistic ambitions of Henry Ford to build a utopian American industrial town in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. More than a cautionary tale of a tycoon’s ill-fated attempt to force order on nature, Fordlandia reasons that the forces of capitalism, once released, cannot be contained.

Christa Zofcin negotiated the deals on behalf of River Road. Author Greg Grandin is represented by APA and the Susan Rabiner Agency. Ben Coccio is represented by CAA and Media Talent Group.