2020 would have been the year Edgar Wright dropped his new film, Last Night In Soho, but the coronavirus pandemic put a stop to that. That film will now arrive in 2021.
However, with Wright’s work on that movie all but finished, he’s looking ahead to his next project. And he’s found it – Wright will direct a kidnapping thriller titled The Chain for Universal.
The film is an adaptation of Adrian McKinty‘s bestselling book, which the studio recently optioned in a seven-figure deal. The project was originally heading to Paramount, but the deal never closed. That allowed The Story Factory’s Shane Salerno to shop the property elsewhere, and Universal snapped it up.
Jane Goldman (X-Men: First Class) will write the script, which follows Rachel, a woman whose 11-year-old daughter has been kidnapped. She’s told that the only way to get the girl back is to kidnap another child, who will only be released if their parents kidnap another child. Thus creating the titular Chain.
Both this and Last Night In Soho have signalled a shift in Wright’s career. Now away from the Cornetto trilogy and other comedies, he seems to have pivoted to psychological thrillers, and it will be fascinating to see how he adapts his unbridled creativity and inventiveness to the genre.
Expect the lead role of The Chain to be highly sought after. We’ll wait and see who secures it, and also wait to hear more about Wright’s take on McKinty’s novel.
#Peace.Love.TheChain
