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James McTeigue Directing 'The Raven' Next, About Edgar Allan Poe

by Alex Billington
August 4, 2009
Source: SlashFilm

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary... James McTeigue is still one of my favorite directors. He started work as the first AD for the Wachowski's on all three Matrix movies and broke out directing V for Vendetta. His second film, Ninja Assassin, is due in theaters in November. I saw the movie at Comic-Con, but can't talk about it yet (except to say it was awesome). I'm still looking forward to anything he does and thankfully SlashFilm has an update on what his next project might be. It's called The Raven and is a fictionalized account of the final five "mysterious" days of poet Edgar Allan Poe's life.

"It's like the poem, The Raven, itself, crossed with Se7en. It should be pretty cool. The script is really good and everyone responds to it really well. I'm in the middle of casting," McTeigue revealed. Poe died in 1849, so this will be a period thriller. Apparently the story will focus on Poe joining the hunt for a serial killer whose murders are inspired by his stories. Poe's death is also mysterious, as he was found on the streets of Baltimore in need of "immediate assistance." He was wearing another person's clothes and repeating the name "Reynolds." He died shortly after in hospital, never able to explain what happened. Quite creepy!

The script for The Raven is being co-written by Hannah Shakespeare (Loverboy, "Bionic Woman") and newcomer Ben Livingston. Apparently The Machinist director Brad Anderson had been developing the project previously, but it has since ended up in McTeigue's hands. I love the sound of this and McTeigue is brilliant with visual style, so I'm very interested to see what he'll do with a story about Edgar Allan Poe. SlashFilm has additional details on another project he has in the works. Don't forget to check out Ninja Assassin in November as well, it's crazy ninja action like you've never seen. Thoughts on The Raven?

Filed under Hype, Movie News, Opinions

From around the web:

Stewie

This looks promising, Edgar Allen Poe is my favorite writer of all time and wrote most of my high school and college papers regarding poetry and short storys on Poe's works. Very interesting person.... twisted but interesting.
Xerxex

please, please cast a relative unknown actor to play E.A. Poe I don't see a major actor playing the part.
Fuelbot

The writer of Loverboy and Bionic Woman is not encouraging in the least.
Ben

what ever happened to McTeigue directing Altered Carbon (sci-fi novel by Richard Morgan)? i have been hanging our for news on that project - hope it hasnt been shelved.... for this
Sabes

I am intrigued. Can't wait to hear more about it.
http://www.twitter.com/gimmesumsuga Mathieu

It'll be interesting to see what he can do without the Wachowski brothers doing all the heavy lifting. The only bits in V For Vendetta that weren't stilted and clumsy - in my view - were the fight scenes. Which the Wachowskis shot for him. I get the feeling that the version from Brad Anderson (The Machinist, Transsiberian, Next Stop Wonderland) would have been something worth getting excited about, though. As for Altered Carbon - great book, but very densely written. You'd have to hack out loads of detail to make it fit in a two hour movie. That's probably the cause of the delay. Perhaps a miniseries would be better?
Broon

Yeah... you -would- be intrigued.
Tim

Is still one of your favorite directors? After a whopping 2 movies? Neither of which are very good. Brad Anderson would have been a MUCH better choice.
Andrew

Would be cool if he did a remake of the old movie "The Raven", starring Vincent Price and a young Jack Nicholson. If you're into old movies you should check it out. Think that story mixed with the special effects we have now would make a badass movie. Probably going in a different direction with it though.