EXCLUSIVE: Hollywood vet and Italian native Gianni Nunnari, producer on movies including the 300 franchise, Immortals, and From Dusk Til Dawn, is bringing Brian Selznick’s (The Invention of Hugo Cabret) young adult novel Run Away With Me to the screen, with Selznick adapting his own novel.
Rome-born Nunnari, an exec producer on The Departed and Se7en, will produce through his Hollywood Gang Productions banner, with executive producer set as Deborah Belford de Furia.
Published by Scholastic in 2025, Run Away With Me marked Selznick’s first novel written specifically for a young adult audience. Set in Rome in the 1980s, the queer coming-of-age romance follows Danny, a 16-year-old American spending the summer in Italy, whose life is transformed when he meets Angelo, a mysterious Italian boy. The novel blends more than 100 pages of Selznick’s signature illustrations with prose.
Selznick is the Caldecott Medal-winning author and illustrator of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which was adapted by Martin Scorsese into the five-time Academy Award-winning film Hugo. His novel Wonderstruck was adapted into the Todd Haynes-directed feature starring Julianne Moore, with Selznick writing the screenplay. His other works include The Marvels, Kaleidoscope and Big Tree, the latter originating from an idea developed with Steven Spielberg.
Nunnari is expected to draw on his longstanding relationships in Hollywood and the European production community to mount the film on location in Rome. He most recently exec-produced Roland Emmerich’s swords and sandals epic Those About To Die in the city. James Canellos and Michael Ritter will also executive produce.
The synopsis continues: “What begins as a chance encounter develops into an intense first love as Danny and Angelo explore the Eternal City together, uncovering stories hidden within its streets, monuments and ruins. Their romance is echoed by other love stories spanning the 17th century, 19th century and 1940s, revealing a history of queer love that has endured even when those relationships were forced into secrecy or erased from the historical record. As the boys grow closer, Angelo’s own secrets begin to emerge, forcing Danny to confront the possibility that their relationship, and the seemingly timeless Roman summer surrounding them, cannot last forever.”
“Run Away With Me is a universal story of love in the Eternal City, set in the 1980s, when I was falling in love with love and with Rome itself,” said Nunnari. “For me, bringing Brian’s story to the screen feels very personal.”
Selznick added: “I’m thrilled my book is being brought to life by such an extraordinary team. We’re all eager to tell a story that affirms the importance of love, a message that feels more urgent now than ever.”
Executive producer de Furia commented: “Run Away With Me and Hollywood Gang may seem like an unlikely pairing, but they are a perfect combination. I’ve worked with Gianni for years and have seen firsthand his passion for storytelling, history, love, and Rome, while Brian is one of the most extraordinary creative minds working today and someone I’ve been lucky to know for decades. Run Away With Me pulses with the electricity of first love and the discovery that our own love stories belong to a history much larger than ourselves. And, of course, the Eternal City plays a starring role. Don’t we all want to fall in love in Rome?”
Selznick is represented by CAA.