Though he’ll be seen as the villain in Jack Reacher this Christmas, Werner Herzog shows no sign of giving up the directing lark in favour of becoming a baddie-for-hire. Instead, Herzog has picked a potential next shot-calling job, signing on to adapt D.B.C Pierre’s award-winning book Vernon God Little.
The Name Of The Rose writer Andrew Birkin will be doing the heavy lifting on the script end, adapting the tale of Vernon, a 15-year-old Texas lad who has just suffered one of the worst days of his life.
His best friend, Jesus Navarro, has slaughtered sixteen bullying schoolmates in a bloody, bullet-ridden confrontation before turning his weapon on himself.
Now Vernon is suspected of being involved and is being questioned by the police and scapegoated by the media. Afraid he could get the death penalty, he decides to flee to Mexico.
Herzog is planning to shoot Gertrude Bell pic Queen Of The Desert next, which boasts Robert Pattinson and Naomi Watts in the leads. He’ll also, as mentioned, crop up in front of the camera in Jack Reacher on December 26. Look out for this one, then, somewhere a little down the line.