Darren Aronofsky is riding high on a wave of critical acclaim and box office gold.   He has his pick of any project, and a schedule free of Hugh Jackman and adamantium claws.  So what’s an intense indie director to do? He puts George Clooney on a leash.

According to Vulture, Aronofsky has his eye on an original sci-fi script called Human Nature.   It’s a spec that’s been floating around for fifteen years, and Aronofsky feels it needs some love. So does Clooney, who is reportedly already attached himself to star.

The plot centers on a man who is cryogenically frozen, and wakes up in a drastically different and horrifying future. (Aren’t they always?)  In this new world, the order of things has reversed, and humans are now the pets of another species.

Of all the projects Aronofsky has floated over the years — Machine Man, The Tiger, Noah, Black Flies, The Hunt, Breaking the Bank, Jackie — this sounds a little tired. A little Planet of the Apes, really.

I trust him, and if he’s doing it, I trust he’s found a way to infuse his sensibilities and obsessions into it.   I’m excited for any original Aronofsky project.  I just wish he’d pick one off the shelf instead of teasing us with them for years and years on end.   It seems like now is the time for him to get something big, weird, and dangerous financed.

Then again, making George Clooney an alien’s pet (Or a dog’s pet? Or a talking horse’s pet? The species is unknown) might be that exact project.