Village Roadshow Developing Movie Based on Comedic Novel ‘A Horse Walks Into a Bar’

By Dave McNary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Village Roadshow Pictures has optioned David Grossman’s prize-winning novel “A Horse Walks Into A Bar” to develop into a feature film.

The company will produce the project with Veritas Entertainment Group. The short novel is about the life of a stand-up comic, as revealed in the course of one evening’s performance. The book is narrated by a retired district court judge who is invited out of the blue by a local comedian to attend his show, a stand-up routine in a bar. The judge and the comedian, who trades on divisive and offensive jokes, knew each other as boys but have had no contact for over 40 years.

In the dance between comic and audience, with barbs flying back and forth, a deeper story begins to take shape — one that will alter the lives of many of those in attendance and lead to a series of candid and chilling revelations.

The book was first published in Hebrew in 2014. It translated into English and published in the UK by Jonathan Cape in November 2016 and in the US by Alfred A. Knopf in February 2017. It won the prestigious Man Booker International Fiction Prize in 2017.

’s recent movies include Warner Bros. titles “Ready Player One,” “Ocean’s 8” and the upcoming “Joker” and “Sherlock Holmes 3.” Grossman is the author of “To The End Of The Land.” He is repped by The Deborah Harris Agency.