Baker and Johnson teamed up for "Breath"

By Siewaun
Reference: Variety

Simon Baker "The Mentalist" and producer Mark Johnson ("The Chronicles of Narnia - franchise," "My Sister's Keeper"), have jointly acquired the feature rights to the Australian author Tim Winton's award-winning bestselling novel "Breath," which they will produce together.

The novel which was published in 2008, started with in a small South Coast, West Australian town, where two 15-year-old boys Pikelet and Loonie take up surfing under the tutelage of former professional surfer named Sando (Baker) and his mysterious American wife, Eva. Spurred on by their mentor, the boys test the limits of courage and recklessness as they try to escape the ordinariness of their lives.

Variety quotes Baker as saying, "Winton's book beautifully captures the excitement and brutality of growing up in a way I've only experienced but have never been able to articulate."

Johnson said, "While 'Breath' is at its heart a coming-of-age story, I see it primarily as a celebration of teenage anarchy and a youthful rejection of anything that smacks of the ordinary."