Amid a recent series of sexual assault allegations against award-winning author Neil Gaiman, Disney has put a planned feature adaptation of his 2008 YA title The Graveyard Book on pause, Deadline can confirm.
Reps for the studio declined comment.
We’re told that there were a number of factors behind the decision to push pause on the film, the allegations against Gaiman — which the author has denied — being only one of them. Among the first accusers to come forward against Gaiman, in reporting from the U.K.-based Tortoise Media, was Scarlett, who alleged that the author sexually assaulted her in New Zealand in February 2022, while she was working as a nanny to his child. Another, K, said that after meeting Gaiman at a Florida book signing in 2003, aged 18, she was submitted to rough sex with him — amid an otherwise consensual relationship — which she “neither wanted nor enjoyed.”
Don’t expect to hear more on The Graveyard Book until this situation plays itself out, as the project had been in deep development up until this point, with no cast yet attached. As we were first to report, Marc Forster came aboard to direct the pic from a script by David Magee in 2022.
Forster’s producing partner Renée Wolfe had been set to produce through their 2Dux2 banner, along with Gil Netter and Ben Browning. Gaiman acknowledged that he had no involvement with the project, even before allegations against him emerged, taking to Tumblr in December 2022 to tell a fan, “You know everything I know. And no, no control or say. Fingers crossed that if they make it, it’s good.”
The winner of the American Newberry Medal and numerous other accolades, The Graveyard Book tells the story of Nobody “Bod” Owen, a young boy who is raised by the ghosts and supernatural beings of a graveyard — including, the graveyard’s caretaker Silas — after his family is murdered.
The book’s famed British author, Gaiman — also known for titles like The Sandman, American Gods, Coraline and Good Omens — saw five women raise sexual assault allegations against him this summer, most of them emerging from Tortoise Media reporting, including as part of a podcast.
While more than one female accuser told Tortoise Media they’d been in a consensual relationship with Gaiman, those who did so also painted a picture of being submitted to “rough and degrading sex with the author, which they say was not always consensual.”
Gaiman also recently saw Netflix cancel its series Dead Boy Detectives, based on his comic book characters, after one season, though it’s not clear whether the allegations against him played a part in that decision.
