James Mangold to Direct Buster Keaton Pic for 20th Century Studios
James Mangold and 20th Century Studios are in development on a film about the life of silent-screen legend Buster Keaton, with Mangold set to direct and produce.
With Mangold in production on the fifth Indiana Jones film, starring Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Mads Mikkelsen, his team is meeting with writers to adapt the biography Buster Keaton: Cut to the Chase by Marion Meade. Her book explores Keaton’s often brutal childhood acting experiences, the making of his masterpieces, his shame at his own lack of education, his life-threatening alcoholism and his turbulent marriages.
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Keaton’s career ranges from his start as a knockabout child performer in vaudeville, to his groundbreaking silent shorts and feature films, through his later work and personal struggles, and finally his critical elevation as one of cinema’s towering artists. The film about Keaton’s life and work will be part of Mangold’s first-look deal with 20th Century Studios. Deadline was first to report news of Mangold boarding the Keaton project.
Most recently, Mangold was the director and producer of 20th Century’s Ford v. Ferrari. As an Oscar-nominated writer and director, Mangold has also written and directed Heavy, Cop Land, Girl Interrupted, Walk the Line, 3:10 to Yuma and Logan.
He is repped by WME, Management 360 and Sloane Offer. The book was repped by Echo Lake Entertainment on behalf of the Robin Straus Agency.
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