Will Re-team With ‘Black Swan’ Scribe Mark Heyman
While Darren Aronofsky is gearing up to direct his first major tentpole in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2” early next year, it looks like any worries that he has abandoned the world of indie film for studio blockbusters can be put to rest.
The director has signed on to helm the intriguing “Machine Man,” a project set up at Mandalay Pictures. Based on an online serial by Max Barry (later re-written into novel form and set to be published next year), the “story concerns a tech engineer who’s tired of going through life average and unnoticed, so he replaces parts of his body with titanium upgrades of his own design. He then discovers that he isn’t the only one with plans for his new body.” Sounds like prime material for Aronofsky to revisit whatever thematic elements he was cooking up for the abandoned “Robocop” reboot.
The rights to Barry’s work were optioned last year by Mandalay, and Mark Heyman (“Black Swan“) is on board to adapt the material. Obviously, Aronofsky won’t get to this one until he’s finished his work on ‘Wolverine 2’ but we imagine he will be keeping an eye on the script as it develops. Regardless, Aronofsky directing a film about a dude who upgrades his own body? Um, yes please.
a look-alike Robocop??