A couple of curious director news bits have arisen. First up, Sam Raimi is adding a fantastic-sounding project to his docket. Per THR, the Evil Dead and Spider-Man filmmaker is producing with an eye to direct a tornado heist adventure movie called Stormfall at Warner Bros. The project is currently out to writers, but it takes place in the Carolinas during a tornado storm and revolves around the relationship between a man and his older mentor.
In the hands of pretty much anyone else, this would be a recipe for disaster. But Raimi has a knack for unique tones, and if anyone can pull off a tornado heist movie, it’s him. The filmmaker has been rather quiet as of late after easing back into blockbuster moviemaking with 2013’s Oz the Great and Powerful. He most recently helmed the pilot for Ash vs. Evil Dead, which he pretty much admitted he only made for fans of the franchise and not necessarily out of a desire to return to the property. He’s been developing a number of different projects in the wake of Ash, from a dramatic remake of A Prophet to the sci-fi World War 3. But this Stormfall project sounds more in line with something like Drag Me to Hell, which, you know, yes please.
In other director news, Oscar-nominated The Imitation Game helmer Morten Tyldum is going to be sticking with the sci-fi genre for the time-being. The filmmaker is currently in post-production on the Chris Pratt/Jennifer Lawrence sci-fi romance Passengers, and now Variety reports that he’s in talks to helm an adaptation of Lauren Beukes’ novel The Shining Girls for MRC, with Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way also producing.
The story of The Shining Girls revolves around a serial killer in 1930s Chicago who stumbles upon a time traveling device, and his would-be victim who survives and tries to bring the time-jumping killer to justice. A feature film adaptation has been percolating for a while with Danny Boyle previously attached, but Tyldum’s involvement brings the film even more momentum. The filmmaker is also attached to direct the Thomas Edison vs. George Westinghouse drama The Last Days of Night, previously referred to as The Current War, so he’s definitely keeping busy in the wake of that Oscar nod.
