Fox nabs film rights to 'World Without Us'

April 01, 2009 Fox has acquired film rights to Alan Weisman's environmental nonfiction book "The World Without Us," with the intent of turning it into a tentpole feature for Mark Protosevich to write and Francis Lawrence to direct. The book explored how edifices and houses would deteriorate, how long and which man-made objects would linger and last, the environmental impact nuclear waste and other pollutants would have left unchecked and how nature would spread over built environments. Lawrence and Protosevich, both repped by CAA, proved themselves masters of that kind of material with the sci-fi monster movie "I Am Legend," which featured Will Smith as the only man left in New York.

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