Director Rupert Sanders made Universal Pictures a lot of money this summer -his film Snow White and the Huntsman bringing in $396 million internationally - and while the critics didn't love what he had to offer and there was the controversial affair with Kristen Stewart, Hollywood is still totally motivated by money. So, naturally, Sanders has been getting his fair share of job offers. Less than a week ago there was a rumor saying the filmmaker was up to direct Tom Cruise in the upcoming Van Helsing reboot and today there's word his circling a gig at Sony.
Deadline has learned that Sanders has agreed to direct The Juliet, a science-fiction romance story. The film is based on a short story by Alfred Bester and is set in a "near futuristic science fiction landscape." There appear to be few details about the plot online, but given the title one can imagine it has some connection to William Shakespeare's most famous work. Sony and New Regency are teaming up to both finance and distribute the movie and plan to start production next spring .Henry Bean, who wrote epsiodes of the Steven Soderbergh series K Street as well as Basic Instinct 2, wrote the script.
It should be noted that the site's report doesn't include mention of the Van Helsing reboot, but if this story is true then it's unlikely Sanders will be doing the vampire hunter movie next (if he is attached). If The Juliet starts production on time that means Sanders would have only five months to make Van Helsing. Something tells me the studio wouldn't be too happy with that.
