Follett lands film rights deal

Ken Follett is one of Britain's highest-earning novelists

Millionaire thriller writer Ken Follett has sold the film rights of his latest novel to Doug Wick, co-producer of the blockbuster Gladiator.

The book, Code to Zero, is described as a suspense story about brainwashing and rocket science set in the 1950s.

The Cardiff-born writer, whose wife Barbara is Labour MP for Stevenage, caused a storm earlier this year when he accused Prime Minister Tony Blair of allowing "malicious gossip to become an everyday tool of modern British government".

Ridley Scott's Gladiator found favour with critics and audiences alike

One of the highest-earning British authors, 51-year-old Follett earned £4m in 1998 from his writing, and £940,000 for the mini-series rights to his 1995 novel, The Third Twin.

Adaptations

The Code to Zero project will be the latest in a series of Follett bestsellers to be adapted for the screen.

Eye of the Needle, a World War II thriller published in 1978, was turned into a film starring Donald Sutherland and Kate Nelligan.

There have also been a string of TV mini-series based on Follett's work, including The Third Twin, Lie Down with Lions, On Wings of Eagles and The Key to Rebecca.

Oscar nominee

Doug Wick won an Oscar nomination and won a Golden Globe Award for his first film as a producer, Mike Nichols' comedy Working Girl starring Melanie Griffith and Harrison Ford.

His whose other production credits include the animated feature film Stuart Little and Girl, Interrupted.

The producer's next project is the much-anticipated film version of Arthur Golden's bestseller Memoirs of a Geisha, to be directed by Steven Spielberg.