Back in October it was reported that director Michael Mann was in the midst of deciding between which one of two projects would be his next feature. The first was a 15th century period piece about the Battle of Agincourt while the second, titled Big Tuna, would be a film about Tony Accardo, Sam Giancana and the Chicago mob. While he still hasn't officially decided what his next film will be, the latter title has just taken a big step forward.
Variety reports that Mann has hired Oscar nominated screenwriter Sheldon Turner to script the mob piece. Turner, who received an Oscar nomination last year for his adaptation of Up In The Air, will write the script as production begins on his directorial debut, By Virtue Fall, which will start up early next year. Set in the midst of the 20th century, the film is about mob boss Accardo who passed the reigns of his crime family on to Giancana in 1957.
While the project does sound interesting, I must say that I would rather see Mann tackle something else before working on Big Tuna. Never one to be tied to a specific genre, the whole thing sounds just a little too similar to Public Enemies. Meanwhile, who wouldn't want to see Mann tackle a film that is essentially Henry V? Regardless of which project he picks, lets hope that he can break the mediocre streak that he's currently on and once again show us how great a director he can be.
