FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Molly Ellis, Director of Publicity
Macmillan Publishing Group
646-438-6188/Molly.Ellis@macmillan.com
GUILLERMO DEL TORO AND DANIEL KRAUS COLLABORATE ON NOVEL
New York, NY (XX XX, 2017) – Feiwel and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Group, will publishThe Shape of Water, an original adult novel that both mirrors and extends the story told by the feature film of the same name. Fox Searchlight Pictures will release the film, which has already won the coveted Golden Lion as Best Picture at the Venice International Film Festival, on December 1, 2017. Based on an original idea by del Toro and Kraus, The Shape of Water has been developed from the ground up as a bold two-tiered release—one story interpreted by two artists in the independent mediums of film and literature.
The Shape of Water is set in Cold War-era Baltimore at the Occam Aerospace Research Center, which has recently received its most sensitive asset ever: an amphibious man captured in the Amazon. What unfolds is a haunting love story between the asset and one of the female janitors on staff, a mute woman who uses sign language to communicate with the creature. The book features illustrations by visual artist James Jean, and weaves fantasy, fable, and romance to create a tale that is equally gripping on the page as it is on the big screen.
Kraus and Del Toro previously collaborated on the young adult novel Trollhunters, which was adapted into the most-watched family show in Netflix history. It was during a meeting about that project that the two began to develop the idea which became The Shape of Water.
“This is a story I've been thinking about since I was six years old and saw Julie Adams in Creature from the Black Lagoon,” said Guillermo del Toro. “I always hoped she and the creature would end up together, but they didn't. It was over a breakfast with my Trollhunters collaborator Daniel Kraus that he told me about his version of a similar idea and I knew immediately that we'd cracked the story, both for the movie and the book.”
“The Shape of Water is my oldest spark of an idea—I’ve been carrying it around inside me since I was fifteen,” said Daniel Kraus. “But it wasn’t a fully fleshed story until I met Guillermo. Within seconds of telling him the premise, he began filling in the narrative blanks. I love writing with Guillermo because he’s the the most earnest, emotionally open artist I know, and those sensibilities compliment my darker, grittier tendencies.”
“Guillermo and Daniel are two of my favorite storytellers,” said editorial director Christian Trimmer. “And what they have created with The Shape of Water is nothing short of brilliant.”
Trimmer negotiated the book deal with Richard Abate of 3 Arts Entertainment and Gary Ungar of Exile Entertainment for World Rights. Publication is planned for February 27, 2018. The film, directed by del Toro and starring Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Octavia Spencer, and Richard Jenkins, will be released by Fox Searchlight on December 1, 2017.