You might think that Paul Haggis would have had enough of prisons after finishing his last film, the soon-to-arrive dramatic thriller The Next Three Days. But apparently you would be wrong, as he’s in talks to adapt and possibly direct a version of Spanish language pic Celda 211.
The American film will go under the unsurprising name Cell 211, and finds a prison guard looking to score a few brownie points with his bosses by showing up to work a day early and taking a tour of the facility. But an accident leaves him unconscious, and before the authorities can get him to the medical ward, a violent riot breaks out. He’s left to wake up in the titular cell with the inmates now in charge of the facility. So what does he do? Pretends to be a prisoner, gets in good with the brutal leader of the cons and tries to defuse the situation from the inside, of course! Oh, and just maybe escape with his neck intact.
The original film was directed by Daniel Monzon, adapted from Francis Perez Gandul’s novel. It’s described by Deadline as Die Hard in a prison, but with an extra layer and tension of character interplay. And probably less running barefoot through glass shards.
Haggis right now is simply producing the film and getting to work on the script, though if it turns into something he’ll want to direct, he’ll have to squeeze it into his full schedule – he’s already got the Equalizer script and at least two other projects bubbling away.
The Next Three Days, meanwhile, arrives over here on January 7.