Fernando Meirelles, the Oscar-nominated director of City of God, which is widely considered to be one of the most notable cinematic achievements of the past decade, has announced that his next possible directorial project will revolve around the life of the Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis. Braulio Mantovani, who earned an Oscar nomination for adapting City of God, will re-team with Meirelles once again to pen the ambitious biopic. [Vulture/New York Magazine]
Mantovani‘s screenplay will be specifically adapted from Peter Evans’ novel Nemesis: The True Story of Aristotle Onassis, Jackie O, and the Love Triangle That Brought Down the Kennedys. Part of the extensive Amazon synopsis reads as follows and, as advertised, Evans’ works delves mainly into Onassis’ sketchy relationship with Bobby Kennedy:
Peter Evans’s biography of Aristotle Onassis, Ari, met with great acclaim when it was published in 1986. Ari provided the world with an unprecedented glimpse of the Greek shipping magnate’s orbit of dizzying wealth, twisted intrigues, and questionable mores. Not long after the book appeared, however, Onassis’s daughter Christina and his longtime business partner Yannis Georgakis hinted to Evans that he had missed the “real story” — one that proved Onassis’s intrigues had deadly results. “I must begin,” Georgakis said, “with the premise that, for Onassis, Bobby Kennedy was unfinished business from way back…”
Also on the horizon for Meirelles is 360, a Peter Morgan-scripted romantic drama starring Anthony Hopkins, Rachel Weisz, and Jude Law. Meirelles is also signed on to direct one of the ten short film segments in the upcoming collection Rio, I Love You.
What do you think of the potential for Meirelles’ Onassis biopic?