In the last four years director Olivier Megaton has made a name for himself largely thanks to the help of Luc Besson. In 2008 he helmed Transporter 3, then last year made Colombiana, and, finally, the end us this year will bring Taken 2, all three movies featuring a co-writing credit for Besson. Now, however, it seems that he is ready to branch out a bit as he has signed on for a new project that Besson has nothing to do with.
THR reports that Megaton is now set to direct Land of the Living. The film is about a young female advertising executive who is abducted by a mysterious assailant while on the streets of Los Angeles. Fortunately she manages to escape, but rather than trying to put the past behind her, she instead dedicates herself to hunting down her "would-be killer." The film is based on the British novel of the same name written by Nicci French, the pseudonym for Nicci Gerard and Sean French. Sean Gullette, who co-wrote the story for and starred in Darren Aronofsky's Pi, is handling the adaptation. It will be his first feature writing project since, though he has made a number of shorts in the time since. The plan is to begin production in January 2013, meaning that the production could be aiming for a late-2013 or early-2014 release date.
I wasn't personally a big fan of Megaton's Colombiana (I actually really hated it), but perhaps Megaton can succeed now that he's not working with Besson (who has been writing the same movie every year for the last decade or so). Who would you like to see star in Land of the Living?
