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Paul Greengrass Attached to Direct Adaptation of 'The Fear Index'?

by Ethan Anderton
August 25, 2011
Source: The Telegraph

While we last heard that United 93 helmer Paul Greengrass would be directing the Somali pirate rescue story Maersk Alabama with Tom Hanks in the lead role, but we haven't heard anymore development on that project yet. After all, the director fell away from projects like Rush (now in Ron Howard's hands) and Fox's Frankenstein (now likely going to Shawn Levy), so he may just have lost interest. Now another project has popped up that could be in the filmmaker's future as The Telegraph (via The Playlist) has learned from author Robert Harris that Greengrass is attached to direct an adaptation of his novel The Fear Index.

The novel won't be released until January of next year (pre-order it right here), but the story is said to follow a genius who creates a highly profitable hedge-fund based on a computer that can predict human mood swings. His world is, however, thrown into turmoil after an intruder breaches the security systems at his home. Sounds a bit like Limitless meets Wall Street, and certainly a more unique take on financial crisis drama than we've seen over the past few years. And if you need anymore convincing, Harris wrote the novel which Roman Polanski adapted into The Ghost Writer, a solid thriller that shouldn't be ignored.

Remember that Greengrass was also said to be considering an adaptation of John D. MacDonald's novel The Deep Blue Goodbye, the first in a series featuring recurring character Travis McGee, a "salvage exert" who aims to help a woman named Cathy Kerr who has been robbed of everything but her dignity. McGee is an unlikely hero as a self-described beach bum who won his houseboat in a card game. But he's also a knight errant who's wary of credit cards, retirement benefits, political parties, mortgages, and television. As a salvage expert, he'll retrieve whatever you've lost for 50 percent of the load. All the projects in consideration seem like decent films for Greengrass, but I just wish he would choose already.

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