Zachary Levi Brings Drawings to Life in Children’s Book Adaptation

The official trailer has been released for Sony’s “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” the children’s book adaptation from director Carlos Saldanha starring Zachary Levi and Zooey Deschanel.

Following the storyline of the 1955 children’s book from author Crockett Johnson, the film chronicles a man named Harold, played by Levi, who can create worlds with the help of his imagination and a purple crayon. In addition to Levi and Deschanel, Lil Rel Howery, Ravi Patel, Camille Guaty, Tanya Reynolds and Pete Gardner round out the film’s cast.

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Saldanha’s directing background has largely taken place in the animated space, spearheading prominent children’s films such as “Ice Age,” “Rio” and its sequel “Ferdinand,” “Robots” and more. “Harold and the Purple Crayon” is set to be the director’s first live-action feature.

The property has had a long history of development, with Wild Things Productions attempting to get the film adaptation off the ground in 1992. Previously, acclaimed animation director Henry Selick was attached to helm the project with a screenplay from Michael Tolkin, though progress fizzled out when Selick left to direct “James and the Giant Peach.” Spike Jonze was subsequently brought in to direct the film, which was to be a mix of live-action and animation, with David O. Russell helping with rewrites. The Jonze-led production never came to fruition as he left the project two months before principal photography began. Sony began developing the current iteration of the film in 2010.

Sony Pictures is set to release the film theatrically on Aug. 2 Check out the trailer below.

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