Logan’s Run Out: What Will Aronofsky Direct Next?

Just when we were getting used to the idea that the Requiem For a Dream/Black Swan director was joining the Marvel universe, now comes word that Darren Aronofsky has officially dropped The Wolverine — he cites being away from home, but if I were in his shoes I’d be weary about radiation and earthquakes so I wouldn’t shoot a film in Japan either. Frankly we don’t care much about the X-Men franchise, so the next question is not who’ll direct the project next (definitely not David Slade) but what will Aronofsky hit next. Seeing that he has signed a two-year deal to develop/produce films for both 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight — I imagine he’ll remain in this camp — will he pick up one of their stagnating projects or go with something he is developing? With Robo Cop no longer an option, here are seven projects that the filmmaker has been attached to in the recent past.

Black Flies
Current Status: Unknown. Last draft from Todd A. Kessler
Gist: Based on the Shannon Burke novel this revolves around a young man who becomes an emergency medical technician in Harlem, a temporary stop before he enters medical school. There, he experiences a range of crises and stressful misadventures, including a mentor who has been numbed to the point that he makes a wrong decision in a life-and-death situation.
Odds: Set up at Paramount in 05′ — this will probably remain on the backburner.

Breaking the Bank 
Current Status: Kerry Williamson is currently working a draft.
Gist: Based on Jon Wertheim’s Sports Illustrated magazine article “Breaking the Bank” and Howard Sounes’ nonfiction book “Heist: The Inside Story of the World’s Biggest Robbery”, this is based on the daring $85 million robbery at the Securitas Depot in Tonbridge, England, in February 2006.
Odds: In the pecking order of possible quick projects, I’m calling this the dark horse project that might be quickly thrown into production.

Flicker —

Current Status: Unknown.
Gist: based on the book Dr. Theodore Roszak, a Cal State history professor, the film is a conspiracy thriller that takes a disturbing and revisionist look at film history. The story is told through the eyes of a Los Angeles film student who, after he becomes obsessed with the oeuvre of a hack filmmaker, determines that B movies are part of a plot to destroy life on Earth.
Odds: Still attached as a production co. — but this appears to be completely wiped from his slate.

Jackie
Current Status: Noah Oppenheim is working on it.
Gist: An account of the days of First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, in immediate aftermath of John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.
Odds: Black List script would have to attach another name than his ex-wife (Weisz). 

Machine Man
Current Status: Mark Heyman has penned the screenplay.
Gist: This is about a tech engineer who, tired of going through life average and unnoticed, 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.
Odds: I’d say this is the frontrunner among his projects.

Noah
Current Status: Project is first being conceived in graphic novel form first — 
Gist: This is a biblical epic and revisionist version of Noah.
Odds: Light years away from this one — sounds too large scale and too ballsy to make at this point.

The Tiger
Current Status: Guillermo Arriaga is penning the adaptation.
Gist: Based on the nonfiction book by John Vaillant, this centers on an animal activist who must protect the small Siberian town he is in when a tiger begins attacking its inhabitants.
Odds: Whenever you have a name like Pitt attached (remember The Fountain debacle) you can be certain that this won’t rushed until it’s firmly ready. Set up at Focus, I think we should think longterm on this project.