McFall's Ferryman to be directed by Marcel

Scottish author Claire McFall’s novel Ferryman, the first book in her award-winning YA trilogy, will be adapted by scriptwriter and director Kelly Marcel.

The London-based film and TV writer Marcel is attached to direct Ferryman (Floris), Deadline has reported. She has previously written for films such as "Saving Mr Banks" and "Fifty Shades of Grey".

BAFTA-nominee Marcel, who is currently executive producing and writing the sequel to "Venom", with Tom Hardy to star, was represented by WME, UK-based Casarotto Ramsay & Associates and Sloane Offer.

Ferryman, a modern retelling of the ancient Greek myth of Charon, was originally published in the UK by Templar in 2013 and won the Scottish Teen Book Award, was longlisted for the Branford Boase Award, and nominated for the Carnegie Medal. The Chinese edition of Ferryman was published in June 2015 and remained in the chart for two consecutive years with repeated periods in the number one spot, and it was China's number one bestselling e-book of 2016. 

The second novel in the series, Trespassers, was published both in the UK by Floris and in China by Beijing White Horse Time in September 2017. In China the book went to number three in the Open Book General Fiction bestsellers chart.

The final instalment from the Scottish Teen Book Prize-winner, Outcasts, will be published by Floris next month.

Last year, it was revealed the trilogy had been snapped up by California-based studio Legendary Entertainment, leading to a boom of 14 further foreign market deals.