Still riding high on the success of HBO’s True Detective, for which he directed every episode, Cary Fukunaga has been lining up new projects. He’s scheduled to start shooting soon on Beasts Of No Nation** with Idris Elba in the lead, and has now found a potential future film in an adaptation of Tom Reiss’ book **Black Count **for Sony.
Reiss’ Pulitzer-winning biography tackles the life and times of French Revolution-era General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas. The son of a nobleman and an African slave, Dumas rose to become the highest-ranking person of colour in any European army of the time: he served under Napoleon and rose to the rank of brigadier general. His exploits went beyond his own life when his son, Alexandre Dumas, used them as inspiration in The Three Musketeers and The Count Of Monte Cristo.
The next step will be to develop the script even as he’s working on other projects. Beasts Of No Nation, meanwhile, begins production in Ghana next month. Fukunaga also has a new film version of Stephen King’s It and Civil War drama** No Blood, No Guts, No Glory** jockeying for his attention in development.