‘Aeronauts’ Filmmaker Tom Harper to Direct Romance ‘Forever’ for MGM (EXCLUSIVE)

By Dave McNary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – MGM has attached “The Aeronauts” director Tom Harper to its romance “Forever” — a project that’s been in development at the studio for eight decades.

Jonathan Glickman is producing “,” based on a romantic novella by Mildred Cram (“Love Affair”), which focuses on two lovers from the past who are reincarnated in the modern world.

“Forever” was originally published in 1935 and purchased for by the studio’s first head of production, Irving Thalberg, for his wife Norma Shearer. Thalberg died in 1936 and story has never made its way to the big screen. Hal Ashby was attached to direct at one point during the 1970s.

Harper also produced “Aeronauts,” which starred Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones. Harper’s feature credits include “Wild Rose,” “The Woman in Black: Angel of Death,” “The Scouting Book for Boys” and “War Book.” His TV credits include the 2016 BBC series “War and Peace” along with segments for “Peaky Blinders,” “The Son” and “Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams.”

Cram and Leo McCarey received an Academy Award nomination in the original writing category for 1939’s “Love Affair.” The film was remade in 1957 as “An Affair to Remember” and remade again in 1994 as “Love Affair” with Warren Beatty and Annette Bening.

Glickman served as MGM film president for the past eight years and announced last month that he was moving to producing . He has named his new banner Glickmania. Michael De Luca, the Oscar-nominated producer of “The Social Network” and a former executive at Sony and New Line, will succeed Glickman in the newly created role of chairman of MGM’s Motion Picture Group.

Harper is repped by UTA and 42 (out of London).