LATEST NEWS

Darren Aronofsky in Early Talks for Espionage Thriller 'Red Sparrow'

by Ethan Anderton
August 14, 2013

Black Swan and The Wrestler director Darren Aronofsky still has to finish his Biblical epic Noah for a late March release in 2014, but he's already setting up a new project. Deadline has word that the director has expressed interest in a film about our first president George Washington, but they put the focus on a new deal in the works to develop an adaptation of Jason Matthews' espionage novel Red Sparrow with an eye towards directing. Right now he's only in early talks, but the project is an important one for 20th Century Fox since they spent 7-figures on the book after a bidding war with several studios back in April.

Matthews is a veteran CIA officer, so that's a good start for the story. Speaking of which, here's the synopsis:

In present-day Russia, ruled by blue-eyed, unblinking President Vladimir Putin, Russian intelligence officer Dominika Egorova struggles to survive in the post-Soviet intelligence jungle. Ordered against her will to become a “Sparrow,” a trained seductress, Dominika is assigned to operate against Nathaniel Nash, a young CIA officer who handles the Agency’s most important Russian mole.

As the action careens between Russia, Finland, Greece, Italy, and the United States, Dominika and Nate soon collide in a duel of wills, tradecraft, and—inevitably—forbidden passion that threatens not just their lives but those of others as well. As secret allegiances are made and broken, Dominika and Nate’s game reaches a deadly crossroads. Soon one of them begins a dangerous double existence in a life-and-death operation that consumes intelligence agencies from Moscow to Washington, DC.

Sounds like something different for the director, and since he didn't get to work his magic on The Wolverine, taking on a more accessible thriller like this should be exciting. Aronofsky's style doesn't fit into any sort of classification, but his films always look gorgeous and have a little bit of the surreal in them, so taking on a grounded thriller might be a challenge. But this is just early talks, so Aronofsky might end up finding another project altogether. After all, Aronofsky was basically locked to direct The Wolverine, but was forced to back out due to personal reasons. Either way, we're excited for Aronofsky's next project.

Find more posts: Development, Movie News

1 Comment

New comments are no longer allowed on this post.