He’s since ventured into Shakespeare and now video game adaptation territory, but Justin Kurzel broke through with Snowtown, inspired by a true story. For a future job, he’s drawing from real-world events once more, as the Macbeth director is working up a film about 2008’s terrorist attack on the Taj Mahal hotel in India.
Kurzel has The Theory Of Everything writer Anthony McCarten adapting Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark’s book The Siege: 68 Hours Inside The Taj Hotel, which recounts how armed Pakistani militants lay siege to the tourist destination. The aim is to make a film in the vein of Black Hawk Down, following what happened when hundreds of people were held hostage for 68 hours as shots were exchanged and a massive fire raged across the property. In the end, 31 people had died and there were many more injuries. Some of the staff and guests were praised for their actions in helping to save more people from death.
StudioCanal is making a deal to finance the film, which, if he definitely commits, Kurzel will make towards the end of next year, because he’s currently busy with Assassin’s Creed, reuniting his Macbeth stars Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard for the adaptation of the Ubisoft game that arrives here on December 26, 2016.