“Slumdog Millionaire” director Danny Boyle is on the move. After ‘Slumdog’ took Oscar gold many reports of what the British filmmaker would take on next proved to be false (James Bond for one), but it appears that another trip to Mumbai might be next?
Possibly. India has clearly enchanted the filmmaker, and last week we learned that he had bought the rights to the non-fiction book, “Maximum City.” A few days after that came reports of potential upcoming collaborations with Indian directors Shekhar Kapur (“Elizabeth” and its sequel, “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”) and Anurag Kashyap (“Dev D,” “No Smoking, “Black Friday”).
Now, comes a report from the London Times that ‘Slumdog’ scribe, Simon Beaufoy (who won an Oscar for his adaptation) will be penning the script for Boyle.
It was only decided a couple of weeks ago, but I will be writing the script for Danny,” Beaufoy said, noting that Boyle was regathering the ‘Slumdog’ filmmakingteam. ” ‘Maximum’ City is a non-fiction work, so it will be a huge challenge to find the story in it. It is a wonderful book and I used it in my initial research for ‘Slumdog.’ There are some great characters in the book, but no stories, so my job will be to get the fictional out of a non-fictional story.”
Boyle clearly has a passion for the book — a nonfiction memoir, travelogue and socio-political analysis of the people of Mumbai— and told the Seattle Weekly, last year that it was his “bible,” during the making of “Slumdog Millionaire.” “I took it with me everywhere. I felt part of the time we were adapting that.”
Written by Suketu Mehta (and shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize in 2005) Beaufoy said in adapting the book he will need huge creative license. “Suketu is very understanding about my creative input and flexible about many changes. I will have to come up with something to bring together all the characters from the book into something that can make a film.”
BUT is it Danny Boyle’s next directing project? All signs point to yes, but we’re not buying it yet. Boyle repeat himself? It strikes us as something he’s never done, at least not back to back and nowhere in the London Times article does it say that Boyle is directing. Maybe he’ll executive-produce and his ‘Slumdog’ co-director Loveleen Tandan will helm?
Pure speculation on our part, but nowhere has it been confirmed this is what Boyle is directing next. By the sounds of it, even if it were, Beaufoy is just starting to write the adaptation, so whoever does take on this project is probably waiting a good year on script development at least, not to mention financiers coming on board, etc. It’s feels like way early days for this one.
Please no.
An artist has to go where his inspiration leads him. Mumbai is diverse enough for any director to make a million movies and never repeat himself once. I'm excited about this, it's an incredible book about an incredible city, with some amazing characters and situations within it.