With the American Film Market in full swing, news on a number of projects is emerging, one of which is Genius, which now has Colin Firth (The King’s Speech) and Michael Fassbender (Prometheus, Shame) lined up to star.
Based on the biobraphy Max Perkins: Editor of Genius, by A. Scott Berg, Genius is about the real-life relationship between literary giant Thomas Wolfe (Fassbender) and renowned editor Max Perkins (Firth). Finding fame and critical success at a young age, Wolfe is a blazing talent with a larger-than-life personality to match. Perkins is one of the most respected and well-known literary editors of all time, discovering such iconic novelists as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. Wolfe and Perkins develop a tender, complex friendship. Transformative and irrepressible, this friendship will change the lives of these brilliant, but very different men forever.
John Logan (The Aviator, Gladiator, Hugo, Skyfall) has written the script, while Michael Grandage, who recently served as the Artistic Director of London’s famed theater the Donmar Warehouse, will be in the director’s chair.
Here’s what director Michael Grandage and producer James Bierman had to say in a joint statement, “John Logan, Colin Firth and Michael Fassbender is an extraordinary line-up to work with and we are particularly delighted to bring Glen Basner and all at FilmNation onto the team to join us as we move forward. Together, we can all now look ahead to making this project a reality and bring this amazing story to the attention of audiences everywhere.”
Cameras won’t roll until early 2014, so don’t expect to see this one for a while.