His main priority right now might be locking down the elements of his deal to direct **Wolverine 2 and figuring out how to bring his unique footprint to a superhero sequel, but Darren Aronofsky is still looking for future projects beyond Logan’s trip to Japan. And now he’s locked in to develop and likely direct cyber-thriller Machine Man.
Mandalay Films picked up the rights from writer Max Barry last year and Mark Heyman, who scripted Black Swan for Aronofsky, is on board to adapt the story.
Machine Man follows a gadget-obsessed engineer who is sick of being treated like a nameless drone. So he decides to replace chunks of himself, including whole limbs, with titanium upgrades that give him a lot more power. Trouble is, dark forces have heard about his changes and plan to use him for their own ends.
While Barry’s story will eventually be collected and published as a traditional book next year, he’s actually posted the whole thing online, adding one page per day during 2009, which you can go and read.
Given the themes of obsession, power and psychosis, it sounds perfect for the man who made Pi and Black Swan, and Aronofsky is apparently looking to have it be the film he shoots after Wolverine.