Methuselah has always sounded like a fascinating action-adventure project with serious franchise potential, but we can’t decide whether Variety’s news that it’s getting a top-to-bottom rewrite is good or bad.
The original Methuselah draft was penned by The Woman in Black director James Watkins, who plans to helm this feature, as well. The story follows a 1,000-year-old man who, according to the trade, has "used his time on the planet to develop an unparalleled set of survival skills" (and we can’t read that sentence aloud without thinking of Liam Neeson’s Taken character). Maybe Warner Bros. will look to Neeson when it comes time to cast Methuselah.
But before we get to the casting stages, Variety says Warner has hired I Am Legend 2 screenwriter Arash Amel to polish Watkins’ treatment and deliver a tighter script. He won’t start on the Methuselah script, however until he puts the finishing touches on Legend for producer Akiva Goldsman and original Legend star Will Smith. That post-apocalyptic sequel had been on a fast-track and likely will stay there so long as Amel delivers his draft in time.
Surprisingly, these aren't the only major projects on Amel’s radar. As Variety notes, he penned the Black List script for Grace of Monaco, which recently cast Nicole Kidman as the late Grace Kelly. Apparently he has a lot of fans in the office’s of major studios, so he keeps getting work. We want to see what he comes up with for I Am Legend 2 and Methuselah, but we’ll have to wait a bit to see the results.
