It’s been almost a year and a half since we’ve gotten anything new on The Weinstein Company’s project Genius, but now they’ve finally started moving forward on the film. Variety has now informed us that TWC is in early talks with longtime play director Michael Grandage make his feature debut.
The film is an adaptation of A. Scott Berg‘s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography Max Perkins: Editor of Genius. The novel chronicles the story of his “tenure as editor-in-chief of Gotham publishing house Scribner.” Over his career, Perkins “oversaw books from some of the greatest writers of the 20th century, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and Tom Wolfe.”
The Tony-winning writer John Logan has provided the script, which will be produced by Harvey Weinstein and Logan, as well as Grandage‘s production company. This marks the second collaboration between Grandage and Logan, as they both won Tony Awarads for Red, which Grandage directed from the latter’s script.
Although we reported that Michael Fassbender was reported to be playing Perkins back in January 2011, we haven’t gotten any confirmation on this matter, as no star has been cast for the role. Fassbender‘s work over the past few years has proven that he can pretty much do anything, so I would very much like to see him take on the role of Perkins. As for Grandage, I’m not much of a theater junky, but his Tony awards do prove that he can direct a worthwhile stage production. Let’s hope he can translate that talent to the screen.
The film is expected to start pre-production next year.
What do you think of this Genius news?