Maupin's The Night Listener headed to the big screen

Variety reports that Armistead Maupin's The Night Listener will be the first of the popular gay novelist's books to hit the big screen. Hart Sharp Entertainment (A Home at the End of the World) will produce, and Maupin and his writing partner, Terry Anderson, will write the adaptation. The 2000 book was inspired by a real incident in Maupin's life, in which he befriended a troubled boy via telephone, only to discover that the boy may or may not have actually existed. Patrick Stettner (The Business of Strangers) has been attached to direct. Shooting is tentatively scheduled for the end of the year.