We had to take a moment when we first read news of Drive**’s Nicolas Winding Refn entering talks to direct graphic novel adaptation Button Man: The Killing Game for DreamWorks. Because we had a brain blip and thought it said he was adapting Button Moon. Which, of course, would be utterly amazing.
But he’s not, sadly for all those hoping that Ryan Gosling could be Mr Spoon. Instead, Refn is considering the prospect of directing The Killing Game, which finds former coppers and mercenaries hired by millionaires to take part in a game where they hunt one another to the death. The rich blobs bet on the outcome, but when our hero, Harry Exton, decides he’s had enough, he finds that his only real way out is to kill the shadowy cabal that runs the event.
Crafted in its original form by Judge Dredd creator John Wagner and Arthur Ranson, you can certainly see why DreamWorks might be interested in this. We picture excitable executives around a table squealing, “It’s Red meets The Hunger Games! Ka-ching!”
It’s another intriguing choice for the director, but even if he does make a deal to work on it, the project will sit in his development skip for a while yet. He’s currently editing martial arts thriller Only God Forgives, and has a variety of other films he wants to make, including I Walk With The Dead (which has Carey Mulligan and some funding) and the long-gestating Logan’s Run with Gosling.
Incidentally, if you’re looking for some exclusive new pics and info on Only God Forgives, get thee to ye olde local magazine shoppe or that there new-fangled iPad gadget to get the latest issue of Empire, which features exactly that, plus more features and imagery than you can shake a Bat-stick at. And it's now out in the US as well!