Oren Moverman's star has continued to rise since The Messenger and Rampart (along with his assorted screenwriter-only credits), and he's eyeing a variety of projects for his next movie.  According to The Playlist, one of the films in the mix is The Big Blow, a complex drama with intertwining plot threads that revolve around the devastating September 4, 1900 hurricane in Gavelston, Texas.  Ridley and Tony Scott's Scott Free production company has had the rights to Joe Lansdale's novella for almost a decade.  A few years ago, Moverman was brought on to do further work on the late Millard Kaufman's screenplay, and now Moverman has moved into the director's chair. Hit the jump for more details on the project.

Moverman tells The Playlist,

"I mean, I know where it is physically, it's with Ridley Scott's company, and Giannina Facio is producing it [but] it's a tough movie to make. It's 1900, Galveston, Texas, it's about racism, it's really powerful and extreme, there's a hurricane that comes in, there's boxing, there's a Jack Johnson-type character, there's just a lot going on. Now we just need the movie to get made, which hopefully we will. I'm attached to direct, Ridley's the producer."

I haven't read the script, but The Playlist's description makes the story sound fantastic:

The tale revolves around a boxing match in which a group of racist Texans bring in a ringer named John McBride, to take on the local champion, the black "Lil" Arthur Johnson, with added incentive of $500 if he kills him in the ring. Meanwhile, a young woman loses her virginity to a gigolo, a couple with a new baby, a ship on the way to Pensacola and more all come into the mix as the storm approaches.

Moverman's previous directorial efforts have revolved around one or two protagonists, but he clearly knows how to twist a narrative in unexpected and exciting ways, and I don't think the number of story lines will be a problem.