Game of Thrones director Matt Shakman to take on TriStar’s adaptation of The Phantom Tollbooth

Matt Shakman (Game of Thrones, Fargo) is set to direct TriStar’s adaptation of the classic children’s book The Phantom Tollbooth, according to Deadline. The book was written by Norton Juster in 1961 with illustrations by Jules Pfeiffer. Shakman was the executive producer of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and has directed episodes of Game of Thrones, The Good Wife and Fargo. The script was written by Michael Vukadinovich, with the current draft by Phil Johnston (writer and director of Wreck-It Ralph 2). Donald De Line and Ed McDonnell will produce.

Here is a description for The Phantom Tollbooth from Amazon: “For Milo, everything’s a bore. When a tollbooth mysteriously appears in his room, he drives through only because he’s got nothing better to do. But on the other side, things seem different. Milo visits the Island of Conclusions (you get there by jumping), learns about time from a ticking watchdog named Tock, and even embarks on a quest to rescue Rhyme and Reason! Somewhere along the way, Milo realizes something astonishing. Life is far from dull. In fact, it’s exciting beyond his wildest dreams…”

The Phantom Tollbooth will reportedly be a hybrid/live action film. Hannah Minghella and Nicole Brown will oversee for TriStar. There was a live-action/animated film version of The Phantom Tollbooth in 1970 that starred Butch Patrick as Milo and the voices of Mel Blanc, Daws Butler, Candy Candido, Hans Conried, June Foray, Patti Gilbert, Shepard Menken, Cliff Norton, Larry Thor, and Les Tremayne. The film was directed and produced by Chuck Jones, though the live-action scenes at the beginning and the end of the film were directed by Dave Monahan.

Did you guys read the book as kids? Are you excited to see The Phantom Tollbooth as a film? Let us know in the comments.