Many directors have jumped on a number of projects releasing a film year after year but few directors would probably have as diverse a set of films as Ben Wheatley, who’s made a number of drama, horror, crime, period films in some cases mixing up the genres flippantly. He’s back to remake 1953 thriller The Wages of Fear. The original film was an adaptation of Georges Arnaud novel of the same name in which a group of hired men are transporting nitroglycerin through the jungle. A film that would inspire William Friedkin (The Exorcist) when he adapted it in his ’77 film Sorcerer.
Wheatley will be writing the script with his wife Amy Jump who have previously worked together on four films already. He recently finished work on High-Rise a satire on class warfare which received mixed reviews. He’s already got another film finishing production called Free Fire starring Brie Larson, Armie Hammer, and Cillian Murphy, Martin Scorsese is an executive producer on the project.
Very exciting for a recent British filmmaker who can somehow mix genres and manage haphazard tonal shifts without it feeling out of place, with Wheatley’s track record it’s probably safe to say The Wages of Fear will release in 2017 otherwise we still have Free Fire to check out some time next year.
#Peace.Love.BenWheatley
