With the Bond films now firmly in his rearview mirror, Sam Mendes is looking to move on to other things. He's now set up a new film, striking a deal with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Partners company to finance World War I drama 1917.
Mendes wrote the film with Penny Dreadful script veteran Kristy Wilson-Cairns, but has yet to reveal any details on what the movie might actually be about beyond the obvious, given the setting and title.
The script and the idea of both Mendes' scriptwriting debut and return to drama was good enough to spark a bidding war, with Paramount, Sony and New Regency all eager, but Amblin – with head Spielberg having brought Mendes' work to the big screen first with American Beauty via DreamWorks – snagged the deal. It also marks a reunion with Wilson-Cairns, who wrote a script based on Gay Talese's The Voyeur's Motel for Mendes to direct for DreamWorks before concerns about a documentary covering the same topic – and questioning some of the story's validity – scuppered the film.
While Mendes has set up other potential films since Spectre, 1917 is the closest to becoming reality, with an April shoot pencilled in for next year and the plan to release it in the following December, which points to awards consideration. In the meantime, he's also preparing to bring his award-winning stage production of Jez Butterworth's The Ferryman to Broadway later this year.
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