Ben Wheatleyis gearing up for his first major studio project with an adaptation ofFrank MillerandGeof Darrow’sHard Boiled.Deadlinereports that Warner Bros. is in negotiations to acquire the rights to the Eisner Award-winning graphic novel for Wheatley to adapt and direct as an action vehicle for hisHigh RisestarTom Hiddleston. The report notes that deals have yet to close for the picture, but we should know more soon.
Hard Boiledis set to be a co-production between Solipsist Films, who did Miller’sSin City: A Dame to Kill For,and Hollywood Gang, who were behind his300and 300: Rise of an Empire, withStephen L’Heureux,Bernie Goldmann, andGianni Nunnari. The three-issue graphic novel debuted in 1990 and followed a suburban insurance investigator and family man, Carol Seltz, who learns that he’s a homicidal cyborg tax collector that is the last hope for his enslaved robotic race.
As far as major studio debuts go, this sounds about as perfectly fitted to Wheatley’s sensibilities as you could ask. The British filmmaker has become a regular festival hit over recent years with his knack for hyper-violent, mind-bending and ultra-stylish fare likeHigh Rise, Sightseers, and Kill List. His latest film, the shoot-em-up free-for-allFree Firedebuted to critical acclaim back at the Toronto International Film Festival, and is set to land in theaters August 13, 2025.
Here’s the officialHard Boiledsynopsis:
Carl Seltz is a suburban insurance investigator, a loving husband, and devoted father. Nixon is a berserk, homicidal tax collector racking up mind-boggling body counts in a diseased urban slaughterhouse. Unit Four is the ultimate robot killing machine - and the last hope of the future’s enslaved mechanical servants. And they’re all the same psychotic entity.
