J.J. Abrams to produce Mystery on Fifth Avenue

What do The Da Vinci Code and posh New York City Fifth Avenue apartments have in common? A lot more than one would think, apparently.

J.J. Abrams, producer of films like Cloverfield, the forthcoming Star Trek and TV shows such as Alias, Felicity and Lost (as well as writer for Mission Impossible III and Armageddon), has signed on to produce a movie inspired by a New York Times article that ran June 12 in the Home & Garden section. It's about an architect's interior re-design of one family's Fifth Avenue apartment. Doesn't sound like fodder for a thrilling script yet? Keep reading...

Into the apartment's very walls and fixtures were incorporated a system of clues, cyphers and even a song and a book. In short, "secrets—messages, games and treasures—that make up a Rube Goldberg maze of systems and contraptions conceived by a young architectural designer named Eric Clough, whose ideas about space and domestic living derive more from Buckminster Fuller than Peter Marino," according to the Times story. OK, so far it may not be "the greatest conspiracy of the past 2000 years" like The Da Vinci Code, but it certainly lends an enigmatic air to what would otherwise be a straightforward tale of ritzy home renovation.

Ostensibly envisioning more than a new domestic tips and tricks division, Paramount Pictures purchased the NYT article to be made into a feature in conjunction with Abrams's Bad Robot shingle, the Hollywood Reporter says. They've signed on writers Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky (both involved in the upcoming Rainn Wilson romp The Rocker) to adapt the article into a film script, or, more likely, to completely revamp the story to incorporate enough plot to fill two hours at the movies. Here's hoping it'll both thrill audiences and offer tips on installing drywall.

Related links:
Paramount.com
J.J. Abrams on IMDb
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