Pig's Michael Sarnoski to write and direct an adaptation of Nick Drnaso's Sabrina

The critically acclaimed graphic novel explores grief, media frenzies, and the appeal of losing yourself in conspiracy theories

Pig's Michael Sarnoski to write and direct an adaptation of Nick Drnaso's Sabrina
Michael Sarnoski Photo: Mike Coppola

As far as debut features go, Michael Sarnoski’s Pig is a pretty damn good resumé: A thoughtful, subversive meditation on grief that briefly cosplays as a revenge thriller, before revealing itself as a vehicle for one of Nicolas Cage’s best performances in recent memory. Certainly, it’s enough to build some serious curiosity about what Sarnoski, who directed and co-wrote the movie with Vanessa Block, might be up to next.

(Okay, so technically “what Sarnoski is up to next” is an as-yet-untitled spin-off or sequel to A Quiet Place, but that doesn’t mean we’re not curious about what he’ll be up to after helping Emily Blunt blow away a bunch of aliens.)

Deadline reports tonight that Sarnoski has lined up his next post-Quiet-Place project, having signed on to adapt Nick Drnaso’s graphic novel Sabrina for New Regency and RT Features.

Sabrina is not, in case you were wondering, about either a teenage witch or a chauffeur’s irresistibly charming daughter; it’s instead a conspiracy-focused descent into grief and misery that we can see meshing with Sarnoski’s sensibilities very well.

In case you’re curious, we wrote about the book a few years back, when naming it one of the best comics of 2018. Here’s the basic plot, per Deadline:

The graphic novel follows a grieving man whose girlfriend goes missing and who goes to live with his old friend – an Air Force surveillance expert agent who is dealing with a failed marriage. After a grisly videotape is sent anonymously to news outlets, Sabrina’s disappearance goes viral. As the 24-hour news cycle and social media take hold of the story, the two men are targeted by vitriolic conspiracy theorists that threaten their sense of the truth and their faith in each other.

Which is, y’know, a lot: A combination of grief, the trappings of true crime, the increasingly waxy definition of what is or is not real… all-in-all, a messy hodgepodge of ideas and anxieties that we’re genuinely interested in seeing Sarnoski tackle, once his Quiet Place obligations have concluded.

 
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