James McTeigue showed great promise with V For Vendetta, but then rather undermined that with the dreadful Ninja Assassin. He’s now got the period mystery The Raven coming to cinemas soon, a thriller called Message From The King that’s currently casting, and it looks like he’ll be following that up with the gangster drama Ness/Capone.
Relativity Media is behind the movie, having bought Grant Pierce Myers screenplay, which landed on the 2010 Black List. The films puts a fresh twist on the war between law enforcer Elliot Ness and Chicago gangster Al Capone in the 1920s. This story portrays Ness a skirt-chasing 26-year-old publicity hound who seems to get an adrenaline charge out of courting danger, kicking in doors, smashing moonshine stores and rubbing it in the noses of Capone and other mobsters. He parades confiscated bootleg trucks past Capones hotel, calling Capone in advance to suggest he look out the window. So it’s not the clean-cut character Kevin Costner played in The Untouchables.
According to Deadline, McTeigue hasn’t quite signed on the dotted line yet, but the deal should be done soon.