There is nothing Hollywood loves more than finding some kind of intellectual property they don’t have to pay for, and where better to look than in the Bible? I’m not sure why Warner Bros. has been so dead set on making a movie about Methuselah but it’s something they’ve been developing for years. At one point, James Watkins (“The Woman In Black”) was attached to direct with a script by Arash Amel (“Grace Of Monaco“), and after that went nowhere, Tom Cruise (of all people) signed up for a version to be helmed by “Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” co-director Joachim Rønning. That fell apart too, but the project has been resurrected yet again.
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Fresh off making a pile of money rescuing “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” Tony Gilroy (“Michael Clayton,” “The Bourne Legacy“) will return to being credited for his work with “Methuselah.” Gilory is taking his pen to the project, and if all goes well he’ll direct it too, and he’s basically starting over from scratch, but keeping the main character: an ageless man who has lived over 400 years, and has accrued no shortage of skills and knowledge across that time that he still carries with him.
Ned Flanders will probably be super stoked about this project, but sorry if we need a bit more convincing. That said, Gilroy is very talented and if he’s got a cool idea for this, we’re certainly eager to find out what it is. He’s meeting soon to pitch his version to Warner Bros., and if they like what they hear, it’ll probably be all systems go. [Deadline]
