In today’sSam Mendesnews that has nothing to do with future James Bond movies, the Oscar-winning director is attached to produce the best-selling novel adaptationBeautiful Ruinsfor Fox 2000. Thebiggernews is that the film may be a possible directing vehicle for Mendes, whose last two efforts have been alongsideDaniel Craigas 007 in bothSkyfallandSpectre. This project would be something else entirely.
AsTHRreports, Mendes' involvement invigorates the picture which had been in development at Cross Creek Pictures withTodd Fieldattached to write and directas recently as 2013, but that effort stalled out. Now, it looks as ifNoah HarpsterandMicah Fitzerman-Blue, the writing duo behindTransparent, are adapting the film. Scott Rudin is also onboard as a producer alongside Mendes.
As for the source material behindBeautiful Ruins, the best-selling novel from authorJess Walter(who also worked on the screenplay), its story “begins in the spring of 1962 off the Ligurian Sea and centers on three young characters whose orbit around one another is set in motion by an incident involving the international jet-set center, Rome, in the throws of “La Dolce Vita” madness during the shooting ofCleopatra, and continues for decades.” Now while that synopsis is a bit vague, perhaps it would interest you more to know that it follows an American actress who travels to Italy in 1962 during the production ofCleopatra, one of Hollywood’s most expensive flops of all time. Telling a story that covers multiple decades and locations, the narrative crosses paths withElizabeth Taylor, who starred inCleopatra, and her love affair withRichard Burton.
A previous stumbling block to the book’s adaptation was the rights issue concerning the filmCleopatra, which was held by Fox. However, part of Fox 2000’s pitch to both Rudin and Mendes was the allowance to use the actual film on screen as part of the story. And with Mendes' involvement inThe Voyeur’s Motelunsure at the moment since the veracity of theGay Talesenonfiction article in The New Yorker has been called into question by aWashington Postinvestigation, Fox 2000 could move forward on this one relatively quickly. The only other project on Mendes' schedule at the moment is a live-action retelling ofJames and the Giant Peach.
