So many kids movies these days begin as books. I guess we have Harry Potter to thank for that, though it didn’t begin with him. I like it much better when scripts are original, but occasionally, there’s a book I’m reading that I think would make a great movie.
And that’s the case with, “The Schwa Was Here”. The novel, written by Neal Shusterman in 2004, tells the story of two boys: Antsy and “The Schwa”, a mysterious person who, at times becomes invisible. His mother disappeared when he was young and he’s been that way ever since. Antsy has a job taking care of the dogs of an old man and he becomes friends with the man’s granddaughter, who is blind.
It an incredibly unusual story and the script grabs you right from the start. It is literally one of those book that I have a hard time putting down: Great characters, sharp dialogue, funny situations and plenty of surprises.
The Disney Channel bought the rights to the book back in 2006 and was supposed to make a film, but it never came out. The last listing on Imdb had the movie “In Development”, but that was over 2 years ago, so it appears the project could be dead.
Someone else should obtain the rights and make this film! Of course, it would be a live action (though an animated version might work as well). As for who I see playing the roles: All the kids would be played by young newcomers (who would become stars after the movie came out). As for Old Man Crawley, I’d cast Dick Van Dyke.
Hopefully, someday, we’ll find out that a movie version of “The Schwa Was Here” will be here.