Jeff Nichols is working on a Cormac McCarthy adaptation or two – but then has a new original film he’s also lining up.
When you have two wholly original films on your resume like Mud and Take Shelter, it’s a wonder that you’d ever consider adapting the work of others, yet that’s what Jeff Nichols has been doing for the last few years.
It’s understandable of course: Nichols has been inspired by some incredible works, having produced 2016’s Loving along with The Bikeriders earlier this year. Both films were adaptations of a sort, with the former being based on Nancy Buirski’s 2011 documentary and the latter adapting Danny Lyon’s book of photographs.
Nichols has had other projects on the go in the last few years that have also been adaptation, even if they haven’t come to fruition. There was a fresh take on Alien Nation that he was working on for quite some time in several incarnations. Plus, he was on board to write and direct A Quiet Place: Day One before eventually stepping away from that project to be replaced by Michael Sarnoski.
Podcast: in conversation with Jeff Nichols
There’s also Nichols’ adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Passenger which is said to be next on the filmmaker’s slate. However, once the filmmaker has completed that project he has revealed to Deadline that his next film will see him return to writing and directing from an original idea.
“I am adapting the last two Cormac McCarthy novels.” he said, “but then I am also writing my first original script since Midnight Special, my fourth film, I’ve been making period pieces and films inspired by other people’s work and this next film for better or worse is going to be cut from Jeff Nichols cloth.”
Nichols also revealed the project will be set in his home state of Arkansas, which sounds to us like it could be the Brad Pitt-linked dystopian project that we reported upon back in August.
Originally titled Land Of Opportunity, the film is said to be a ‘bleak story about America undergoing another Great Depression’.
Little else is known about it apart from that. Could Land Of Opportunity even be Nichols’ next movie? His quote certainly doesn’t rule the possibility out. You can catch our interview with Nichols from earlier this year right here.
