Darren Aronofsky is coming off his Vegas project, “Postcard From Earth,” which wasn’t necessarily a movie as much as this immersive docu-experience meant for Vegas’ newly unveiled $2.3 billion “sphere” screen.
He is now off to his next film, called “Emperor,” and is looking for the lead, an “actor in their 20s or early 30s”. No word yet on if it’s a fictional or historical character.
Aronofsky will be writing, directing and producing “Emperor.” The budget being aimed for with this one is around $70M. The filmmaker has dabbled between low and high budget movies throughout his career, this latest one seems to belong with the latter.
I’m also hearing that his other project, Blumhouse’s “Adrift,” which had Jared Leto starring and producing in the high-seas horror film, is now DOA. It’s been shelved.
Aronofsky’s “The Whale” was released last year to mixed reviews, but it did win Brendan Fraser the Oscar and audiences really liked the film — it made $54 million worldwide on a skimp $3 million budget.
He is the definition of a hit or miss director. With every film, and he’s only directed eight in 25 years of moviemaking, Aronofsky tries to make something different every single time, all in the while swinging for the fences.
I wasn’t big on “The Whale,” just as I didn’t care for “Noah,” “mother!” and “The Fountain. However, he’ll always be fine in my books for having made “The Wrestler,” “Black Swan” and “Requiem For A Dream” — all three are great films.