In 2002, author Wendy Orr published Nim’s Island, a tale that brought to life a whimsical, adventure-filled tropical paradise like no other and two irresistible heroines:  bold young Nim, who leads a modern-day Swiss Family Robinson lifestyle filled with excitement on a remote isle surrounded by her scientist father, close animal companions; and adventure writer Alexander Rover, who leads a completely opposite life of seclusion and high anxiety in her big city apartment – that is, until her biggest fan reaches out to her for help.  

When fate brings Nim and Alexandra together, it appears that no two people could be any more different.  Nim craves the thrill of great journeys and true friendships, while Alexandra is a comical bundle of frayed nerves. But the two quickly discover that they share something vital in common – a belief in the power of the imagination, and a love of Alexandra’s fictional creation, Alex Rover, whose boundless courage and derring-do will inspire them to go amazing places and make close connections of which they once only dreamed. Nim ultimately finds herself in the midst of one of the greatest adventures of all:  becoming a family. 

Says Orr, “Nim’s story is about the idea that we can all be a lot braver than we think.  Whether you’re fighting off marauding pirates or leaving your apartment to cross the world, we’re all capable of just so much more than we believe.”

The Los Angeles Times called Orr’s book, “a refreshing fantasy tale . . . with ample doses of suspense and comedy” and noted that “readers will want to believe everything about the likeable Nim and her idyllic isle.” 

Fast-forward a few years and film producer Paula Mazur suddenly discovers Nim’s Island in a Santa Monica library bin. Intrigued by the title, she takes the book home to read to her children, and inspiration instantly strikes. “I found it such a beautiful story, so well-written, with such strong characters, with this father, daughter and author who are all destined to find one another, that right away I thought ‘I’d love to see this movie,’” Mazur recalls.  “I especially loved that Nim is such a great role model.  She’s a can-do kid who takes on everything that she encounters with enthusiasm and humor.” 

Mazur was thrilled to find that the screen rights to the story were available and quickly put a screenplay adaptation into motion, soon after joining forces with Walden Media, who have become renown for their ability to take beloved family novels from page to screen with both integrity and creativity. 

As the search began for screenwriters to raise the story to a richer cinematic level, both Mazur and Walden were agreed on the pair they hoped would take on the task:  Mark Levin and Jennifer Flackett, the husband-and-wife team who, among many diverse projects, recently wrote and directed the critically acclaimed Little Manhattan, about two 11 year-olds who fall in love when they literally come face-to-face in a Manhattan karate class.  Celebrated as that rare, smart, witty comedy for audiences of all ages, the film demonstrated the duo’s affinity for evoking strong emotions and sophisticated humor within a family film context. 

“The tone of Little Manhattan was very real and not sentimental and the script was so clever and beautiful.  I just had a gut feeling they were the right people for NIM’S ISLAND,” says Mazur, “and Walden felt the same way.” 

New parents themselves, Levin and Flackett and fell very quickly into love with Nim and all the delightfully offbeat characters, both human and animal, Orr brought to life in her novel.  Says Levin:  “We saw the foundation for a beautiful movie, and we took great inspiration from our daughter in approaching how to write and direct the movie, because we wanted to create something that she would love, and also something that reflected her, because to us she is a lot like Nim.” 

Adds Flackett:  “We were really excited to try to capture that sense of a child’s love of running and jumping and having adventures.  There aren’t many roles like that for girls, and we wanted to give that to our daughter.  We’ve also both always loved the kinds of really potent family films that transcend age and time and we definitely saw the potential for that in this story.” 

In approaching the adaptation, Mark and Jennifer began with what they saw as the heart of the movie.  “The core of it is about people trying to make a connection.  It’s about a father who’s trying to get home to his little girl, a girl who’s trying to reach out to her hero in her hour of need, a writer trying to connect with the world and with the person she always wanted to be, and most of all, about a family trying to restore itself.  These are the themes of the book, and they are what always drove us in creating the movie, from the screenplay to the set,” Levin summarizes. 

While the themes remained the same, the pair explain that as they worked with the screenplay they did outwardly expand some of the events of the novel to create more drama and visual excitement on the screen.  “Everything that happens in the movie also happens in the book, but we took the basic events and made them all just a little bit bigger and more cinematic,” notes Flackett. 

Having also at one time worked on the acclaimed, hit television show The Wonder Years, Levin and Flackett confess they both love writing from the fresh, and often fearlessly perceptive, angle of a child’s point-of-view.  “There’s something about the twelve year-old psyche that is a lot of fun and also very poignant as a point of view, because it’s such a transformative time in everybody’s life,” says Levin.  “For us, there was also a lot of joy that came from being able to use so much imagination in all of Nim’s world.”

Levin and Flackett have always found that they prefer to work together, rather than apart, and by the time they were done with the screenplay for NIM’S ISLAND and heading into production, the duo notes that they, just like their characters, had been brought even closer as a family by the process.  “For me and Jennifer this is the best possible way to live and create,” sums up Mark.  “What’s so exciting about doing this together is that we have the opportunity to let our imaginations wander to the same wild places.  It’s a very creative partnership.”