It's eight years since Road to Perdition, the classy period gangster drama starring Tom Hanks and Paul Newman, and directed by Sam Mendes. in the intervening years the possibility of a follow-up has arisen occasionally, but writer Max Alan Collins has just told Movieweb that we're closer than ever to the** Road to Purgatory.
Collins wrote the original graphic novel on which the film was based, and Road to Purgatory already exists as a prose sequel, along with a further instalment, Road to Paradise. The follow-ups deal with the adult life of Michael O'Sullivan Jr (played by Tyler Hoechlin in the first film) after his return from WWII service in the Philippines. Under the alias of Michael Satariano he attempts to settle down to a quiet life, but gets involved with Eliot Ness (he of The Untouchables), undertaking a perilous infiltration of Capone's mob syndicate, where he gains the trust of Frank Nitti. It's a bit like Donnie Brasco, but with tommy-guns.
The prolific author has directed in the past, and says he's held onto Road to Purgatory as a project he'd like to oversee himself from behind the camera. That now seems unlikely, but "it is my script, and we're right on the brink of a deal being signed. Things have gotten very, very serious."
Collins says his personal involvement this time is important to him, having not been involved in the original film (which had a script by David Self). He wants, he says, "the script to be faithfully rendered," but that's not to say he's unhappy with the work of Mendes and Self. "There certainly are differences between my graphic novel and Road to Perdition," he says, "but the spirit of the story is there. Mendes really got it and understood it, and in some ways enhanced it."
"It's not nailed down yet," Collins concludes, "but we've been approached and signed a round of paper, and it looks to be pretty interesting..."
Approached by whom? Collins "can only tease, I'm afraid." Watch this space for further developments...