Oscar-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind) is set to write and produce adaptations of author Marcus Sakey’s bestselling book trilogy Brilliance, Deadline has revealed.

Brilliance takes place “in a future world where “brilliants” — the rare 1% born gifted with superior mental abilities — are carefully tracked by the government. Federal agent Nick Cooper, himself a “brilliant,’ is tasked with using his own gifts to infiltrate a radical group and hunt down another ‘brilliant’ who could plunge the entire country into a devastating civil war. But to catch him, Cooper will have to violate everything he believes in – and betray his own kind.”

“It’s rare to find complex characters and deep world building in the same literary work,” said Goldsman, whose other credits include I Am Legend and The Da Vinci Code. “Marcus Sakey’s Brilliance trilogy does just that. I’m excited to dig in with Story Factory to help generate the movies these wonderful novels deserve.”

“Akiva Goldsman has a remarkable history of creating worlds that are rich both in ideas and in pure entertainment,” added Sakey. “He writes deeply compelling films that leave you talking afterward. I’m thrilled he’s writing Brilliance.”

Brilliance originally sold to Legendary Pictures, which was eyeing the property as a potential Will Smith vehicle, although the rights reverted back to Sakey who went on to write two sequels to the original novel – A Better World and Written in Fire – before turning his eye back to a feature film adaptation.

via Flickering Myth