Ben Leonberg to Direct “Look Out” Adaptation for Republic Pictures

By Daniel Okafor

Republic Pictures has tapped Ben Leonberg to direct and co-write a film adaptation of “Look Out,” a horror novella released in May 2025. Variety reported the deal exclusively.

The official logline describes Oscar “recuperating from a divorce, takes a job as a fire lookout at a remote forest outpost, where he discovers a paper inscribed with a strange set of rules that promise to keep him safe during his watch.”

Plot details remain under wraps. The project has a director, a producing team and a published novella. What it lacks, for now, is the film itself.

What does “Look Out” contain?

The novella was written by Dan Baillie and features artwork from Tim Bradstreet. It was released in May 2025. It began the “Future of Fear” partnership between Vertigo Entertainment and AWA.

The logline makes the adaptation’s challenge visible: it must convert a man’s isolation, a job, an outpost and a paper covered in rules into tension. The novella’s engine is a sheet of paper. That gives the film a specific problem to solve.

Who is making the adaptation?

Leonberg will share the screenplay with Alex Cannon. Cannon previously worked with him on “Good Boy.” Roy Lee and Andrew Childs will produce for Vertigo Entertainment. Zach Studin will produce for Artists Writers and Artisans (AWA).

Leonberg remains the creative link between Republic Pictures and the publishers behind “Look Out,” joining screenwriting and directing to partnerships across publishing and film. The publishing and film credits overlap. That is the concrete part of the deal.

How did Leonberg reach this point?

Leonberg made his feature directorial debut with “Good Boy.” The horror film follows a dog on a mission. The dog must protect a sickly owner from a sinister supernatural force. Leonberg’s family dog, Indy, starred as the sole protagonist.

Variety called “Good Boy” his breakout hit, a festival favourite acquired by IFC Films and Shudder after its appearance on the 2025 SXSW festival programme. The comparison between “Good Boy” and “Look Out” is blunt: family dog in one, remote lookout in the other. The tonal demands are less tidy. Leonberg’s task is to make written rules frightening without letting the explanation flatten them.

What else is in Leonberg’s pipeline?

Leonberg is also developing “Ankle Snatcher” for Sony Pictures. He will adapt Grady Hendrix’s short story with Cannon.

“Follow Mode” follows teenagers who knock down a drone and discover footage of a psychopath on a killing spree, with Temple Hill producing the project. Leonberg wrote and directed it. It is his second original horror feature and remains in post-production.

Leonberg is represented by Verve, Untitled and attorney Ryan Nord at The Nord Group. His agency and legal representation are clear. The film’s plot is not.

The adaptation now has a director, a producing team and a novella with rules of its own. Its next test is how those rules survive the move to screen.