Darren Aronofsky certainly knows how to keep movie insiders on their toes. The Requiem for a Dream director is reportedly in talks to direct the upcoming Evel Knievel biopic for Sony Pictures.
Though it’s unclear yet if it’s a done deal (is it ever with Aronofsky?) Deadline and The Tracking Board are both reporting that Aronofsky has or is expected to sign on to direct the biopic, which stars Channing Tatum as the daredevil motorcycle jumper, who holds the Guinness Book of World Records title for “most bones broken in a lifetime” (433!).
The notoriously fickle auteur has previously thwarted plans to work with with Tatum, along with screenwriter Scott Silver, who is currently rewriting the script. Aronofsky turned down Tatum’s offer to direct his upcoming X-Men spin-off Gambit, and was at one time in talks to direct Silver’s script The Fighter before David Russell came on board.
The Wrestler director has also previously been “attached” to The Wolverine, Watchmen, Batman, and RoboCop, but none of those plans came to fruition. But when he does commit, the results are typically excellent: Aronofsky won a Best Director Oscar for Black Swan in 2010.