By How do you follow up a bio pic of a man who crammed a bunch of animals into a boat and saved all of them from a drought? Stunts. Darren Aronofsky is in talks to helm a bio-pic about Evel Knievel who is easily the world’s most famous daredevil. Channing Tatum, who is reportedly obsessed with the stuntman is producing the film and he’s got his sites set on Aronofsky directing.
The director is evidently in talks now after Peter Berg left the film, but nothing has been signed yet according to Deadline. Tatum hasn’t been confirmed to star in the film yet, but he mostly likely will.
As far as directors go this might be the best choice out there. The Wrestler and Black Swan showed us that Aronofsky is a master at character studies and Knievel is one hell of a character study. He’s the prototypical mythic story. A rise to fame coupled with a slow descent into obscurity as his more violent instincts (he was a wife beater and attacked his manager with a baseball bat) took over. It’s basically the most American tale you can tell, replete with star spangled outfits and death defying stunts. Aronofsky is the perfect director to ground the story while letting the metaphors for American life unfold.
