For most of his career, Jaume Collet-Serra has presumably been happy being a better-than-average genre film director. His CV is littered with Liam Neeson joints (“Non-Stop,” “Run All Night,” “Unknown,” the upcoming “The Commuter“) and of course, last year’s surprise hit, the Blake Lively shark flick “The Shallows.” However, now it looks like the director is ready to take a turn toward the serious.
Deadline reports that Collet-Serra will helm “Waco” for Annapurna Pictures. Mark Boal (“The Hurt Locker,” “Zero Dark Thirty“) and Marc Haimes (“Kubo And The Two Strings“) are collaborating on the script that will follow cult leader David Koresh, the rise of the Branch Davidians, and the FBI’s controversial siege on the compound in the titular Texan city in 1993. The project is moving quickly with casting to get underway shortly, and with plans to get the movie in front of cameras by the end of the year. Why the hurry?
Well, in case you forgot, there’s a competing project, also called “Waco,” that is now filming. It’s a limited series effort that has Taylor Kitsch playing the charismatic Koresh, with Michael Shannon as negotiator Gary Noesner, with John Erick Dowdle and Dennie Gordon directing. It’ll probably arrive first, but The Weinstein Company, upon hearing news of the feature, will probably be even more compelled to get their project onto small screens as soon as possible.
