Ridley Scott is reportedly attached to a smaller-scale thriller called Bomb, which he’s said to be taking on after Gladiator 2 and his ‘bucket list’ western.
Ridley Scott has had a busy year. He has Napoleon in cinemas at the moment and is currently hard at work on the set of Gladiator 2.
After that, reports last month claimed that he would be helming a ‘bucket list’ western – widely believed to be an adaptation of Wraiths Of A Broken Land, the S Craig Zahler novel that Scott optioned some years ago and has always been keen to make.
Scott’s ‘productions in development’ page on IMDb is always something to behold, with a boggling number of projects fighting for attention. But according to Deadline, the next project bubbling to the surface is BOMB, a dramatic thriller that is just a little more modest in scale than Scott’s last few productions.
According to the outlet, 20th Century Studios emerged victors in a fierce bidding war for the project which is said to have engaged ten studio bidders including Apple, Netflix, Sony and Warner Bros. The deal includes the rights to the Kevin McMullin short story which will be adapted for the screen by McMullin himself. Ridley Scott is attached as director and his Scott Free production company will produce.
Here’s the synopsis:
‘Frankie Ippolito is a hostage negotiator called into duty the night before his wedding in London. A man who has parked himself in a construction site in Piccadilly Circus is standing on a newly uncovered, unexploded bomb from WWII. He tells local law enforcement he will only speak with Frankie, and this sets off a chain of events in which Frankie is drawn into an overnight struggle to stop the bomber with whom he has a past.’
Given that nothing is scripted yet, this one is some way down the line. As we mentioned above, Scott’s slate is pretty busy, but we have an idea of what he’ll be working on as he draws closer to the grand age of 90.
As other directors such as Martin Scorsese (81) and Quentin Tarantino (a sprightly 60) talk about facing the end of their careers, there’s something inspiring about seeing Scott simply adding more and more projects to his slate. We’ll bring you more on Bomb as we hear it.
