Ralph Winter, producer of the X-Men films and a self-professed Christian, is set to produce the film version of The Screwtape Letters in a partnership with Fox and Walden Media, the studio that produced the Narnia films, as well as Bridge to Terabithia and Charlotte's Web.
Fox has owned the film rights to The Screwtape Letters since the 1950s, and adapting Lewis' 1942 satirical novel for the big screen has been an endeavor of epic proportions. The book is composed of a series of letters from the veteran demon Screwtape to his junior "tempter" nephew, Wormwood, on the best ways to bring about the spiritual downfall of his target, a British man known simply as "the Patient."
Winter told The Christian Post last year that producers hoped to attach director Scott Dickerson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) to the film, which likely be rated PG-13, because it is "edgy, serious material."
While the film is on a "fast track" and a 2012 release is likely, Winter is in no hurry to get it into theaters. "I don't want to be known as the guy who ruined it," he said. "So I'm gonna go slow … We'll get there in God's timing and when it's right."
