James Mangold has quickly become one of the hottest directors working in Hollywood today, and it looks like he has just found his next film. Mangold is officially trading in his adventurous fedora for some silent era antics as, reported exclusively by Deadline, he will be directing and producing a biopic based about one of Hollywood’s most treasured filmmakers/comedians, Buster Keaton. The film is based on the book Buster Keaton: Cut to the Chase by Marion Meade and Mangold will be developing the project with 20th Century Studios.
Keaton was a Hollywood star for almost five decades, starting in the 1910s, all the way up until his death in 1966. Keaton was best known for his great physical comedy during the silent era, and some of his most popular works includes films like The General, Sherlock Jr., and The Navigator. The star's life is prime for the biopic treatment, as his groundbreaking stunt work in particular has kept him in conversation as one of the industry's greatest talents all these decades later.
Mangold also seems like a fantastic choice to take on a type of project like this. Besides his massive scale blockbusters like Logan, Mangold has made a name for himself with Oscar nominated films, like the remake of 3:10 To Yuma and other critically acclaimed biopics like the Walk the Line and Ford v. Ferrari, the latter of which was nominated for Best Picture. This film will also see Mangold reteam with Disney/20th Century Fox as, since Disney bought Fox, the director has previously made Ford v. Ferrari and the upcoming untitled Indiana Jones 5 with the studio.
The highly anticipated Indiana Jones sequel, which will see Harrison Ford return as the title character, is in the home stretch of production, and the Logan director was snatched up quickly after Steven Spielberg left the project as director. Mangold has been known for his great sense for emotional storytelling and rich character driven narratives, even when he finds himself in the larger than life world of Marvel, so it will be very exciting to see what he brings to the table with this new biopic.
Deadline also claims that this Keaton biopic is a high priority for the executives at 20th Century Studios, and they have already met with writers to adapt the book. Because of this, this will most likely be Mangold’s next project after Indiana Jones 5 officially wraps. There is no other news like casting or story details at this time, but for all the latest on this new Keaton biopic, stick with Collider.