Producer Lynne Wilson (Young Triffie, Love & Savagery) has optioned the feature rights to the novel The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, with Down in the Dirt‘s Justin Simms attached to write and direct.

The 1998 book by Wayne Johnston follows the love-hate relationship between Joey Smallwood, the province’s first premier, and a fictitious and hard-drinking newspaper reporter. The novel was a bestseller in Canada, short-listed for both the Giller prize and a Governor General’s Award.

The project will be produced through Wilson’s Pearl Productions in St John’s, Newfoundland, and was unveiled following the debut of Simms’ Down in the Dirt at TIFF.

‘I have loved this book since the day I opened the front cover,’ Simms said in a statement. ‘I have always felt it had the stuff of a great movie — a fascinating historic backdrop, one-of-a-kind characters, and a compelling, heart-breaking love story. ‘