Deadline is reporting that Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton, The Bourne Legacy) is in talks with Warner Bros. to write and potentially direct the studio’s long-gestating thriller Methuselah, which is being produced by David Heyman (Harry Potter).
The project was originally set up by James Watkins and recently had Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales co-direct Joachim Ronning attached, with Tom Cruise set to star. However, Ronning is now off the project, and is instead prepping an adaptation of Michael Crichton’s final novel Micro.
Gilroy is said to have a take that overhauls the project, although it will retain the central concept of a man who has survived for 400 years without physically ageing, and has accumulated vast intellectual knowledge and survival skills. Gilroy will soon be pitching his vision to Warner Bros., and is in line to direct should the script meet with approval.
Gilroy most recently worked on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, where he was brought in to do rewrites and is said to have directed the film’s extensive reshoots, earning himself a reported $5 million in the process.
