Novel with ties to a Houston suburb optioned for film





Check out these other movies filmed or set in Houston ... less The film rights to Rene Steinke’s novel “Friendswood,” set in the suburb just south of Houston, have been obtained by movie producers, according to Variety. The producing team is now looking for screenwriters to turn Steinke’s book into a feature-length film. The film rights to Rene Steinke’s novel “Friendswood,” set in the suburb just south of Houston, have been obtained by movie producers, according to Variety. The producing team is now looking for ... more Image 1 of / 39 Caption Close Novel with ties to a Houston suburb optioned for film 1 / 39 Back to Gallery

The film rights to Rene Steinke’s just-published novel “Friendswood,” set in the suburb just south of Houston, have been obtained by movie producers, according to Variety. The producing team is now looking for screenwriters to turn Steinke’s book into a feature-length film.

Producers Elizabeth Fowler, Susan Duff, and Dannielle Thomas make up the production team for the film, which is in the earliest development stages.

Duff, a native Houstonian, is the mother of Hilary Duff and Haylie Duff. She produced a handful of films that the Duff girls starred in.

The novel, Steinke’s third, deals with a toxic waste dumping site in a small town and the deadly toll it takes on the community, not unlike the very real efforts to clean up the Brio Superfund site in southeast Harris County.

The 58-acre Brio site, located at 2501 Dixie Farm and Beamer Road, was declared a federal Superfund site after a $207 million court settlement for a 1992 toxic waste case. Residents in the area blamed Brio for a range of health problems, including birth defects. A school and housing subdivision had to be demolished as a result of their proximity to the site.

The $100 million cleanup of the former Brio Refinery Inc. facility was completed in 2003. The EPA took the site off a national priorities list of areas needing further cleanup later that year.

Steinke herself grew up in Friendswood and told NPR recently that the Friendswood in the book is closer to the rural one she knew growing up and not the bustling suburb it is today.

Actress and musician Madonna has also optioned the rights to Steinke’s 2010 novel “Holy Skirts,” which details the early 20th Century avant-garde movement.

No release dates or other details are as yet known about “Friendswood,” including whether or not producers plan to shoot scenes in the real Friendswood.

The 1999 homegrown terrorism tale “Arlington Road,” starring Jeff Bridges and Tim Robbins, was filmed just down the street from the real Brio site in the Dixie Woods subdivision.