Josh Heuston is set to star in Throttled, an upcoming film based on the book from Lauren Ashers’ Dirty Air series.
Asher‘s Throttled, the first of four books in the Dirty Air sports romance series, was published in 2020. It follows a young woman joining her brother on the racing circuit and falling into “a forbidden, high-stakes romance with her brother’s ruthless teammate and fiercest racing rival,“ played by Off Campus star Heuston.
Melissa Osborne (My Fault: London, My Oxford Year) will adapt the script and Nzingha Stewart (Daisy Jones & the Six) is set to direct. Max Handelman and Elizabeth Banks of Brownstone Productions are producing along with Ethea Entertainment’s Jennifer Gibgot and Andrew Panay. Garrett Grant is also producing, with Alison Small of Brownstone Productions and Asher executive producing.
Amazon MGM Studios has landed worldwide distribution rights for the film, which will be available in more than 240 countries and territories on Prime Video.
“When I published Throttled, I didn’t imagine that my first book would be adapted for the screen, so it still feels like a dream. One that was made possible because of the readers who supported the Dirty Air series and the team who wants to bring it to life. I’m very grateful to both for making this a reality,“ Asher said to The Hollywood Reporter.
Throttled marks another project in the upcoming slate for Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman’s Brownstone Productions, which has a first-look film deal at Universal across both film and TV. Other projects in their current film slate include Magic School Bus with Legendary, Leigh Janiak’s Harness, Chloe Okuno’s Bad Hand and Alex Prager’s Dreamquil. Meanwhile, their upcoming television slate includes an Apple TV comedy series starring Banks, Ted Danson, Katey Sagal and Rob Delaney, as well as limited series for Prime Video and Warner Bros. Television centered on the Karen Read trials. Banks will star.
The adaptation of the sports romance is also another addition to Amazon MGM‘s ongoing slate of book-to-screen adaptations, including Off Campus and The Love Hypothesis.
Gibgot and Panay of Ethea recently producedThe Last Sunrise, Prime’s film adaptation of Anna Todd‘s bestselling romance novel, after producing theAfterfilms also based on Todd’s books. Most recently, they set upHouse of Crowns, a romance series in early development at Amazon MGM, based on a forthcoming novel from Todd.
Asher is a New York Times bestselling author with more than 5 million books sold worldwide. She is repped by Kimberly Brower at Park, Fine & Brower Literary Management and Marisa Kapust at Toczek Suddleson Law Group.
Heuston is repped by UTA, 44 Media Partners and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher.