NJ’s Danny DeVito inspired to make movie about Toms River

New Jersey native Danny DeVito has optioned a film based on a true story that sounds like it could become the "Erin Brockovich" of the Jersey Shore.

Which is only natural, considering DeVito's film production company also was behind that Oscar-nominated film nearly 20 years ago.

Author Dan Fagin tweeted out the exciting news on Thursday.  His book "Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation" won a Pulitzer Prize in 2014 for general non-fiction.

"So happy to be working with the super-talented Danny DeVito and family to bring the Toms River saga to life on screen. This story could not be in more capable hands," he said.

Fagin later thanked fans for good wishes and added: "Just keep in mind that this is an option. We will see what happens but I feel very good about the possibilities now that Danny DeVito and Jersey Films 2nd Avenue are involved."

"For years, large chemical companies had been using Toms River as their private dumping ground, burying tens of thousands of leaky drums in open pits and discharging billions of gallons of acid-laced wastewater into the town’s namesake river," according to the journalist's book description.

Jersey Film’s 2nd Avenue is run by DeVito and two of his adult children, Lucy DeVito and Jake DeVito, according to Deadline.

The book recounts the decades-long environmental and local health issues stemming from the Toms River plant operated by Ciba-Geigy Corp.

In 1992, the corporation agreed to a $64 million settlement, after being criminally charged with illegally dumping hazardous waste at the Ocean County site.

Then in 2011, Ciba-Geigy agreed to pay $20 million to thousands of township residents of the Oak Ridge neighborhood, who had sued over further claims of property contamination.

​
More from New Jersey 101.5: