Tom Hooper to direct ‘Nineteen Steps’; Millie Bobby Brown’s novel heads to THIS platform

Millie Bobby Brown has roped in Academy Award winner Tom Hooper to direct the feature adaptation of her New York Times bestselling novel 'Nineteen Steps' for Netflix, reported Deadline.As previously announced, Anthony McCarten, the four-time Oscar nominee behind films like 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and 'The Theory of Everything', is set to adapt the screenplay for the film, which is currently in development.Millie Bobby Brown, Jake Bongiovi and Bobby Brown are producing for PCMA alongside Jonathan Eirich for Rideback, with an eye for Brown to star. Nick Reynolds will exec produce for Rideback.According to Deadline, Nineteen Steps is a WWII novel drawing on the experiences of Brown's grandmother. Written by Brown and Kathleen McGurl, the story follows Nellie Morris, an 18-year-old girl living in the East London neighbourhood of Bethnal Green.Over the course of the book, Nellie navigates the challenges of wartime life, including the threat of bombings, rationing, and the emotional turmoil of being separated from loved ones, while charting a new romance with American airman, Ray. At the historical core of the novel is the Bethnal Green Tube disaster, one of the worst civilian disasters in the UK during the war, where 173 people were killed in a crush as they sought shelter during an air raid, reported Deadline.As for the director, Hooper won the Oscar for Best Director for 'The King's Speech' and is otherwise best known for helming the Oscar-winning films 'Les Miserables' and 'The Danish Girl'.Most recently, he was attached to direct Photograph 51, an adaptation of the Anna Ziegler play of the same name that will star Natalie Portman as Rosalind Franklin, the groundbreaking British scientist who first unveiled the hidden structure of DNA. That project was announced during last year's Cannes Market, reported Deadline.For Millie Bobby Brown, other upcoming projects include the Netflix films 'Enola Holmes 3' and 'Just Picture It'.