LOS ANGELES, May 10, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WWII bestseller, Never So Few, which originally hit bookshelves in 1957 to near unanimous rave reviews and was re-released as an E-book last year for modern audiences by Open Road Integrated Media, is attracting interest around Hollywood for a possible remake. The book, which is being represented by the late author, Tom Chamales’, son, producer Gerald Chamales, was turned into a major motion picture in 1959 staring Frank Sinatra, Gina Lollobrigida, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and Peter Lawford. It tells the story of a charismatic but conflicted young officer leading a heavily outnumbered band of tribesmen and allied troops, including the Chinese, behind enemy lines in the Burmese jungles against the Japanese in the early stages of WWII. The re-release of Never So Few is available on Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, and other online retailers.
“It involves danger, adventure, treachery, traitorous back-stabbing and even a touch of romance, and we think a modernized version would strike today’s audiences familiar with global conflicts as a frighteningly familiar nightmare scenario,” says Chamales.
Talks have commenced between Chamales and several exhibitors and production entities to bring the story to either cable or the big screen. The original book sold to MGM Studios for a then-record $300,000 (nearly $2.7M today) and then was made into the film in 1959 by director John Sturgis, who later cast McQueen in his classic, “The Great Escape.” The young Chamales, who oversaw the book’s re-release last year, is a producer with several credits and an upcoming Netflix project featuring several Hollywood heavyweights.
“In the tradition of ‘Apocalypse Now’, ‘Saving Private Ryan’ or ‘Hacksaw Ridge’, we believe this book has the potential to express the combatant’s sense of a war gone insanely off-track,” says Chamales. “We hope a modern Hollywood remake can maintain the original integrity of the work and depict the confusing and traitorous activities from this rarely-reported on portion of the Asia-Pacific theater that still takes place in today’s modern-world warfare.”
Sixty-one years ago, Never So Few was considered one of the most disturbing exhibitions of the conflicts facing both man and mission during war. It was reportedly so realistic that to this day it’s required reading for Green Beret soldiers. The “New York Times” said the book was, "an extraordinary first novel about guerrilla warfare behind the Japanese lines.” Kirkus Reviews said, “this stands out of the welter of novels told against the background of war for its originality and distinction,” and went on to say, “much of it is unpalatable, raw, distasteful, assuredly not for the thin skinned.”
Gerald Chamales, is an LA-based entrepreneur, investor and producer. His father, Tom Chamales, died tragically at age 35. His second (and only other) book, Go Naked into The World was also a made into a film by MGM starring Lollobrigida.
Contact:
Sean Mahoney
smahoney@inkincpr.com