Writer Penned A Version Of ‘Bourne 4’ & ‘Dune’
One of the hottest new writers in Hollywood doesn’t have one IMDB credit to his name. That’s because nothing screenwriter Joshua Zetumer has written has been produced into a film, yet, but that doesn’t mean that a) it won’t eventually and b) he’s not talented.
”I was cleaning up after a lawyer’s maid,” he told Entertainment Weekly in 2008 about the way his career unexpectedly went into overdrive. ”And suddenly I’m writing dialogue on a cocktail napkin, and it’s landing in a ‘Bond’ movie!”
It’s true, the writer’s spec scripts, “Infiltrator” and “Villain” landed him on the 2006 and 2007 Blacklist (at the #4 spot each time, and Leonardo DiCaprio attached himself to the latter ages ago) and shortly thereafter he was enlisted to rewrite the “Quantum of Solace” script during filming. Plum gigs kept coming. While George Nolfi (“The Adjustment Bureau“) was working on one draft of the “Bourne 4” that was never meant to be, Zetumer was hired to pen an another draft (the idea at the time was which ever one pleased Greengrass and Damon more would go, but they simply didn’t want to do ‘Bourne’ so soon).
After that he completed a 175-page draft for a film adaptation of “Dune,” which was going to directed by Pierre Morel, but then he put that entire project in jeopardy when he bailed. He did do revisions on one film that is hitting screens in 2011, “The Darkest Hour,” starring Emile Hirsch, but as Hollywood is wont to do, he won’t be credited when it’s on screen.
And now finally, as the wheels slowly turn on a “RoboCop” remake, MGM has hired Zetumer to pen the script.
So the 1987 science fiction film about a terminally wounded cop who returns to the force as a powerful and ruthless cyborg is coming back to the screen and Zetumer has the gig. Does this mean, Darren Aronofsky has no shot at helming it (he’s still interested he says).
Likely, the screenwriter announcement comes hot on the heels of news that Brazilian director José Padilha (“Elite Squad”) was hired to helm the “RoboCop” reboot. Apparently the duo will be working closely to bring the film to the screen. Do we even need another “RoboCop” film? Hell, that’s besides the point, isn’t it? Why does a dog lick his balls? Next week expect the announcement of a 2013 release date. [Deadline]
