David Benioff, Hollywood’s favorite young New York literati and the much-envied fiancé of Amanda Peet, has landed another choice screenwriting gig. An industry source says that Benioff, whose ascension began with the screenplay adaptation of his novel 25th Hour and the sword-and-sandal epic Troy, is close to signing a $2 million deal with Columbia Pictures and producer Michael De Luca, who’s famed for green-lighting Lord of the Rings when he was at New Line Cinema. The huge sale is based on Benioff’s pitch for a remake of the 2004 Danish drama Brodre (Brothers); the price eclipses the $1.8 million the Dartmouth grad received for his first draft of the New York–set Ewan McGregor psychological thriller Stay (which came out, and flopped, last fall). Brodre, which received an extremely limited release in U.S. theaters in 2005, starred Connie Nielsen (Gladiator) as a modern-day Dane awaiting her husband’s return from a U.N. mission to Afghanistan. A Columbia spokesman would only confirm that discussions with Benioff are under way. Other projects in Benioff’s Hollywood hopper include adapting Khaled Hosseini’s best-selling novel The Kite Runner for DreamWorks and writing the X-Men spinoff Wolverine for 20th Century Fox.

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