Once consigned to spend years aging in development limbo, high-concept pic Methuselah finally got a fresh boost of life with Michael B. Jordan signing on to star last month. The project is now also close to hiring a director, as Spider-Man: Homecoming's Jon Watts is in early talks to handle the film.
Originated by writer/director James Watkins, it has little to do with the Biblical original beyond the concept, which should now see Jordan as a man who has managed to survive for hundreds of years, without showing the physical signs of age. In that time, he has accumulated vast intellectual knowledge, from multiple languages to the sciences, as well as survival skills. It's been pitched as an "elevated genre" outing and resurfaced a couple of years ago as a potential collaboration between Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge director Joachim Rønning and one Tom Cruise.
Tony Gilroy wrote the most recent draft, and Watts is now in the initial stages of a deal with Warner Bros. The director is back in Spidey territory with this summer's Spider-Man: Far From Home out on 3 July.
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