Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura’s film Deepwater Horizon has been in development for quite some time.  About two years ago, we reported that director Ric Roman Waugh was in talks for the project.  But things never stay the same in Hollywood and, needless to say, at some point during the development process he fell off the project.  The new helmer in talks for the project is All ls Lost writer/director J.C. Chandor.

I actually have yet to see All Is Lost, but I hear it’s a total knockout (some people I trust prefer it to the similarly structured Gravity), so on paper this seems like a wise decision.  Lionsgate/Summit and Participant are going to need someone who can craft a taut piece of work without coming across as disrespectful to the lives that were lost (and the environmental damage that ensued) that day.  Hit the jump for more on Deepwater Horizon.

Per Deadline, the most recent draft of the script by Matthew Michael Carnahan (who also wrote The Kingdom), the movie is much more a survival story about the survivors left on the rig than it is a morality tale.  Out of just over 100 people working on the rig at the time, 11 were killed and 26 were injured.  I’m sure there’s more than enough compelling material to work with.  Chandor is currently finishing up his latest film A Most Violent Year, which stars Jessica Chastain.

Steve interviewed producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura about the film just a few weeks ago:

Deepwater Horizon is a project that I love.  What’s interesting is, the heroism that was exhibited on that rig as it’s imploding—and every story has really been about what happened after the fact, the oil spill—this has nothing to do with the oil spill in a sense, it has everything to do with the people on that rig and the heroism they exhibited in trying to get off it and save each other.  And that’s really the story, it’s very akin to A Perfect Storm.”