EXCLUSIVE: Wayfarer Studios is adapting for the big screen, the 2020 inspirational memoir by Sanford “Sandy” D. Greenberg, Hello Darkness My Old Friend: How Daring Dreams and Unyielding Friendship Turned One Man’s Blindness Into an Extraordinary Vision for Life.
The project reteams the studio with scribe and producer, Tony Spiridakis, who wrote the recent indie feature Ezra starring Robert De Niro and Bobby Cannavale. Spiridakis will adapt and serve as EP.
The news comes just as Wayfarer Studios is about to open the Aug. 9 Justin Baldoni-Blake Lively romance drama, It Ends With Us, based on the Colleen Hoover novel, via Sony.
The film focuses on Greenberg’s early life growing up in an impoverished Jewish household in Buffalo, NY, his formative years at Columbia University and the incredible challenges that made up his extraordinary life. While at school, he strikes up an instant friendship with Art Garfunkel, and the two become fast friends and roommates by sophomore year. The next year, misdiagnosed glaucoma robs Greenberg of his sight, and he sinks into a deep depression, convinced his future dreams were dead. Instead, with Garfunkel’s encouragement, Sandy returns to school and excels beyond what was ever believed possible in the early 1960s for those with physical limitations. The film will showcase poignant moments within Greenberg’s life as well as how he played a part in the chart-topping single “Sound of Silence,” recorded by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, an act of generosity that encapsulates the friendship and unwavering support Garfunkel and Greenberg shared.
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“When I finished reading Sandy’s memoir, I was overwhelmed and inspired by how he had overcome blindness to accomplish great things in his life,” said Spiridakis. “When I learned that he and Art Garfunkel are still best friends, and that he and Sue are still happily married, I knew what part of the memoir I needed to focus on. I wanted to explore how three college kids – Sandy, Art and Sue – refused to give up or run away or turn their backs on one another when darkness descends upon Sandy and he lost his vision forever. I want to show how difficult it was for all three to fight, sacrifice…together…to give Sandy Greenberg the chance to move on and fulfill his dreams.”
“I’m thrilled about this movie, and working with Wayfarer Studios and Tony Spiridakis for the same reason I wrote the memoir that has inspired all this,” Greenberg says. “I want everyone, children as well as adults, to know that challenges like mine are not the end of the line,” said Greenberg. “No amount of hoping can restore what is lost or never there, but with determination, courage to face the unknown, and especially the love of family and friends – Sue, my girlfriend back in those days and now my wife of 60 years; Artie and Jerry Speyer, our other roommate and so critical to my return and future happiness; and so many others – you can build a new, full, and rich life that contributes to the goodness of humankind. I have been blind for more than six decades, but maybe strangely, I consider myself the luckiest man in the world. Hello Darkness will help everyone understand why.”
“Sandy’s story is one of perseverance and resilience, his practice of tikkun olam – repairing and healing the world – is what we all need right now” says Andrew Calof, President of Production & Development at Wayfarer Studios. “I’m genuinely excited that we are bringing his story to life and could not be more thrilled to be working with Tony on the screenplay.”
The film will be executive produced by Steve Sarowitz and Jamey Heath of Wayfarer Studios along with Greenberg and Jeff McCarter. Justin Baldoni and Andrew Calof will produce for Wayfarer Studios. Angela Cardon will oversee on behalf of Wayfarer Studios. Imene Meziane from Wayfarer Studios executed the deal.
Greenberg is repped by Dana Spector at CAA and Steve Burkow at Ziffren Brittenham LLP. Spiridakis is repped by The Gotham Group and Schreck, Rose, Dapello, Adams, Berlin & Dunham. Wayfarer Studios is represented by WME.
The post Wayfarer Studios Re-Teams With Scribe Tony Spiridakis To Adapt Sanford D. Greenberg Memoir ‘Hello Darkness, My Old Friend’ appeared first on Deadline.
