It is becoming a little too easy to cast Darren Aronofsky as one of his obsessive driven-to-the-brink-of-madness characters. He’s finally scratching that comic book itch with Wolverine 2 (and possibly curing the need for a Lone Wolf and Cub samurai saga with it.) But there’s still one that got away: Robocop.
What’s the next best thing? Get your own damn Robocop. According to THR’s Heat Vision, Aronofsky is develop and direct Machine Man for Mandalay Pictures. Unless another project catches his eye (always a possibility), he’s eying it as his immediate follow-up to Wolverine 2.
Machine Man is not based on the Marvel comic (I just wanted to screw with your eyeballs), but on Max Barry’s ongoing web serial which was optioned by Mandalay last year. THR describes the story as centering on “a gadget geek and engineer at a forward thinking tech firm who is tired of going through life average and unnoticed and is also obsessed with his own self improvement. He decides to replace his weak, fleshy parts with high-end titanium performance upgrades of his own design but then discovers other entities have designs on him for their own motives.” It’s not exactly Robocop but it’s a kissing cousin any way you solder it. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of his unused concepts are quietly recycled into this story.
I haven’t been following Barry’s one-page-a-day story closely, but it’s gotten a lot of press due to the way its readers are slowly shaping its ongoing narrative. Its early pages left a lot to be desired stylistically, but it seems to be getting stronger and smoother as it goes on. I have no doubt Aronofsky can spin it into something dark and brilliant — and maybe exercise his own cybernetic curiosities and obsessions in the process.