Marc Webb to direct 'Spectacular'

'500 Days' helmer set for Fox Searchlight film

By MICHAEL JONES

Webb

Fox Searchlight has set Marc Webb to direct "The Spectacular Now," a coming-of-age dramedy based on Tim Tharp's book. The project will reunite the helmer with "500 Days of Summer" scribes Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, who are set to adapt.

Tome was a finalist for the National Book Award and follows a hard-partying high school senior whose life changes when he meets a shy, insecure girl.

A well-known musicvid director, Webb made his feature debut with "500 Days of Summer," a romancer starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel.  Pic preemed at the Sundance Film Festival this week, and Fox Searchlight is set to release it on July 24.

"It's somewhere between 'Sideways,' 'Catcher in the Rye' and 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off,' " said producer Tom McNulty. "It's a heartbreaking story about a kid who realizes his youth is about over."

McNulty and Shawn Levy ("Night at the Museum") will produce through their 21 Laps shingle, with veep Billy Rosenberg steering development.