Last October, news broke that James Gray‘s follow-up to “Armageddon Time” would be a biopic about John F. Kennedy‘s time in World War II. Now that appears to no longer be the case. Deadline reports that Gray instead will team up again with Focus Features for “Ezekiel Moss,” from a buzzy script by Keith Bunin.
READ MORE: James Gray Wants To Do An ‘Armageddon Time’ Sequel Focusing On Anne Hathaway’s Character
The upcoming movie is a Depression-era ghost story about a young, imaginative boy in a small town who befriends a drifter who may or may not have supernatural abilities to speak with the dead. Bunin’s recent draft blew people at Focus away, and it took little persuasion for Gray to sign on to the project.
Apparently, the idea for “Ezekiel Moss” has been kicking around for some time. Philip Seymour Hoffman was attached to direct the film at one point before his tragic death in 2014. But it’s Gray’s movie now, and the story feels right in the director’s wheelhouse. “Armageddon Time” did very well with critics after its Cannes Film Festival world premiere last year, so expect lots of buzz around this project.
But Gray’s on a good string of films at the moment anyway. Critics also enjoyed 2019’s “Ad Astra” with Brad Pitt following its bow at Venice that year. And in 2016, “The Lost City Of Z” with Charlie Hunnam closed the New York Film Festival to universal acclaim. So, expect Gray and Focus to eye a festival premiere for “Ezekiel Moss” when it approaches release.