Evel Knievel seems to be fascinating Hollywood again. The headline grabbing stuntman was the subject of the recent documentary "Being Evel," Sony has their own brewing movie with Channing Tatum attached, and now Paramount want to get on the motorcycle and jump some school buses with their own biopic, hoping to grab the most legendary director around to take it on.
Deadline reports that the studio has tapped "The Departed" scribe William Monahan to pen an adaptation of Sheldon Saltman‘s notorious "Evel Knievel On Tour." The book, which presented a not so family-friendly portrait of Knievel, so infuriated the stuntman that he attacked the author with a baseball bat, breaking his arm. And even more, it details Knievel’s failed Snake River Canyon jump.
So, with Monahan on board, and Terrence Winter ("Boardwalk Empire," "The Wolf Of Wall Street") slated to produce, Paramount wants to grab Scorsese to complete the trifecta, and direct the picture.
But, we’ll see how this plays out. Scorsese is currently wrapping "Silence" and after that, the chatter seems to suggest his long developing "The Irishman" with Robert De Niro would be next, but we’ve also heard that one before. It’s probably a safe bet Scorsese will consider the picture, given the involvement of his former collaborators, but where it goes from there we’ll have to wait and see.