Posted by dominie in Films, News on November 18th, 2008
Variety reports that Christopher McQuarrie, the scribe behind Valkyrie and Usual Suspects, has officially signed on to write and produce The Monster of Florence for United Artists. This is no shocker since McQuarrie was already in talks to come on board when the project was first picked up in early September (see here).
Further details: McQuarrie partnered with Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen (American Beauty) to option the picture rights. Tom Cruise will also be producing, and still possibly to star as well.
Based on a New York Times bestseller, The Monster of Florence “chronicles a true series of events from author Douglas Preston’s life. Shortly after moving his family to Italy in 2000, Preston learned that an olive grove on their property had been the scene of a brutal murder. Teaming with Italian journalist Mario Spezi, Preston began investigating the crime, which was part of a series of eight double homicides between 1968-85. Story also spawned a 1985 Italian-language docudrama of the same name.”
Unlike other serial killer thrillers, McQuarrie will use the project as an opportunity to tell the story of a writer. It’s a “surreal account of two writers opening a proverbial Pandora’s box with their research,” McQuarrie tells Variety. “They witness first-hand how the misguided good intentions of others allow evil to flourish, eventually becoming a part of the story themselves.”
Posted by dominie in Comics, Films, News on October 19th, 2008
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. has signed newcomer Brad Ingelsby (The Honeyfields) to pen the script for DC Comics/WildStorm’s Sleeper comic book for the big screen.
In August, Tom Cruise was loosely attached to join Sam Raimi in developing the adaptation. Cruise’s involvement, though not officially signed, has seemingly set the project on the fast track for a 2011 release date and Warner Bros. is hoping to turn Sleeper into a new studio franchise. Cruise will rumored to star, while Raimi and Josh Donen will produce the film through their Stars Road Entertainment banner.
In regards to Ingelsby, early this year in March, he made his first script sale, The Low Dweller, a thriller feature to Relativity Media for $500,000 against $1 million, which Ridley Scott is now attached to direct and Leonardo DiCaprio will star.
The original Sleeper comic, written by Ed Brubaker with art by Sean Phillips, “is a high-tech noir series published from 2003-05 that puts superheroes in a stylish, hard-boiled crime saga not unlike The Departed.” The series follows the protagonist, Holden Carver (a.k.a The Conductor) a spy placed undercover in a criminal organization led by TAO, a WildC.A.T.s villain. Carver is fused with an alien artifact that causes him to be impervious to pain and have the ability to pass on the specialty to other through skin contact. When Carver’s only real link to the outside, John Lynch, falls into a coma, Carver’s life spirals into an internal struggle between right and wrong while he rises through the ranks under TAO’s organization.
Posted by dominie in Films, News on September 5th, 2008
Douglas Preston, author of the bestseller The Monster of Florence, told Variety today that Tom Cruise and United Artists have acquired rights for the big screen adaptation of his serial-killer thriller of the same name. The script will be penned by Chris McQuarrie (Valkyrie) and produced by Tom Cruise who will then decide whether to star in the film as well once he reads the script.
The film will be a “reconstruction of eight grisly double homicides believed to have been committed single-handedly between 1968 and 1985 in and around the Italian Renaissance gem… [and] will have Florence and the Chianti as protagonists: two of the locations most beloved by Americans.”
“It’s the biggest movie deal in my life,” Preston was quoted saying in a front page story of the Italo daily. His novel The Relic was also adapted into a movie in 1997 and his Monster of Florence case was the inspiration behind Thomas Harris’ sequel Hannibal.
Variety reports that Christopher McQuarrie, the scribe behind Valkyrie and Usual Suspects, has officially signed on to write and produce The Monster of Florence for United Artists. This is no shocker since McQuarrie was already in talks to come on board when the project was first picked up in early September (see here).
