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Darren Aronofsky is Developing a George Washington Project, Too

by Alex Billington
April 17, 2012
Source: Variety

He's a jack of all trades. From professional wrestling to ballet to biblical epics to our first President. Variety is reporting that filmmaker Darren Aronofsky, who is just starting up pre-production on his $150 million biblical epic Noah, is also shopping around a project called The General, which he is attached to produce and direct. Apparently this film about George Washington is "more of an Unforgiven-like tale rather than a straight historical drama." Sounds crazy—yet awesome, of course, since we know there's some Aronofsky genius behind it. Paramount is in negotiations to pick it up, but it could change hands if they don't sign on.

There aren't many plot details known about The General just yet, and this is the first I've heard of it, but "Unforgiven-like" sounds like it may be following George Washington's escapades before he was President, as Major General and Commander in chief during the American Revolution. The screenplay was written by Adam Cooper and Bill Collage (Accepted, the upcoming Moby Dick, Blood Feud). Paramount has a first look deal with Protozoa Pictures, Aronofsky's development company, and has the first option on this latest project. While Variety says they're in negotiations, they oddly also add "if the studio doesn't close a deal in the next couple of days, others get a shot -- and interest is expected to be high." Will this deal fall through?

Interest is especially high because Variety also hides another juicy tidbit later on, stating that "Aronofsky is eager to make" The General, which may put it directly in line to follow Noah starring Russell Crowe, set to hit theaters in early 2014. We'll definitely keep an eye on things, both with Noah and now The General, as well as anything else coming up from Aronofsky. (For those curious, that George Washington teaser image above is from a mural in Bioshock: Infinite, which features a badass "Motorized Patriot" Washington in it).

Update: Darren Aronofsky himself followed up and posted a brief twitter update on this, stating: "Not sure where the Unforgiven comparison comes from. The script by Collage and Cooper is a raw portrait of the man becoming an American." Well it looks like Variety got that mixed up, and it definitely is a "raw portrait" of George Washington as a man. That's all he said, but as always follow him on twitter for more.

Filed under Development, Movie News

From around the web:

LosZombies

Hope it would come out as badass as The Patriot.
- Candle_Wick
  
  By 'Badass' I presume you mean 'Bullshit'?
  - Jericho
    
    The Patriot was good enough to show you have poor taste... on the side note, i wonder how many times Aronofsky will have Martha Washington touch herself....
    - Candle_Wick
      
      I think poor taste would be defending a film that you only consider 'good enough'. 'Good enough' for what? Vapid acting amidst a shoddy history rewrite? Than yes, I agree. There are plenty of factual atrocities on both sides of the war of independence, especially via the British, without making up weedy stories to keep people interested. I'm sure that Aronofsky will dig a little deeper than framing the entire struggle for American independence as a metaphor for a troubled father/son relationship.
Isildur_of_Numenor

I'm not an Aronofsky fan, but I liked Black Swan and I'm very curious how Noah will turn out. I don't know about this project, it's too soon. But "Unforgiven-like" sounds promising, I guess.
Alex

Now just imagine if instead of this article's title being "Darren Aronofsky is developing a George Washington project, too" it was: "Michael Bay is developing a George Washington project, too". What a difference a name makes!
hawk99

Bioshock Infinite!!!!!!
Loser

Been a fan since Pi this sounds awesome and epic