Now that he’s extricated himself from the job of directing The Wolverine and is throwing all his effort into getting his Noah project afloat at a studio, you might think that Darren Aronofsky’s dance card would be full. But no: he’s finding time to make his first ever stab at directing television. Don’t expect him to be calling the shots round Albert Square, though – he’s signed on to shoot the pilot of cult literary favourite Michael Chabon’s HBO show Hobgoblin.
While it sounds like it’ll feature a cackling creature, the project is actually about a motley band of con men and magicians who pool their skills of deception and trickery to help fight Hitler during World War Two.
Though he has several of his most famous titles (especially The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay) in development as movies, Chabon is still best known for Wonder Boys and the script work he provided on the likes of Spider-Man 2 and the upcoming John Carter.
Chabon has co-created the show with his wife, Ayelet Waldman, who recently saw her novel Love and Other Pursuits adapted into the Natalie Portman drama The Other Woman. The pair is planning to run the series should it get picked up. Aronofsky’s touch should certainly help with that, though much like Martin Scorsese on Boardwalk Empire, he’ll only direct the pilot and then likely become just a consultant on other episodes.
Either way, the task of making the pilot is now going to be his first project since completing** Black Swan**. And it’s just another sign that TV remains an attractive lure for all sorts of filmmaking talent.