It would seem that Bryan Singer has a large number of projects swirling around him as he moves to direct his follow up to last year’s very respectable Valkyrie. Variety is reporting a decent rundown of projects that are in various states of development, all of which Singer has an eye towards directing.
First off, is the news that Warner Brothers has acquired full rights to Excalibur, John Boorman’s 1981 take on the Arthurian legends (pulled mostly from Le Morte d’Arthur). The plan is said to be that Singer will produce and possibly direct the film. Singer let slip some of his affection for Arthur in the X-Men movies with a few references to The Once And Future King. Considering Singer’s recent success in a WWII environment, The Once And Future King and its post-second-World-War themes may have been right up his alley. Alas, it is the Mirren, Stewart, Neeson, Regrave vehicle that has been optioned, despite the source material being public domain.
Any Arthurian tale that Singer might direct though, is in competition with several other projects that he is circling. It was only a week ago we discovered Singer is once again involved in a feature Battlestar Galactica project. In addition, 20th Century Fox still has X-Men: First Class working its way towards screens, and Variety specifically mentions Singer as “flirting” with that project. Perhaps Fox has let go of their abandonment grudge…?
Finally, Jack the Giant Killer (which was widely reported as a DJ Caruso project in January) is mentioned as his most probable directing project. Giant Killer is naturally a take on the classic fairy tale, which involves misguided cow trading, big assholes, and falling like a motherfucker. The approach would of a more adult nature, so I imagine the falling will be hardcore.
With so few details on some of these projects, it’s tough to tell if Singer is simply dartboarding a decision on which one to tackle, or if they’re all lined up in staggered development processes. Singer has a penchant for producing, so he’s likely to keep a finger in several pies, even as some projects move on without him in the director’s chair.