If you’re in with Darren Aronofsky, you’re certainly in our good books. The writer-director has a keen eye for talent, shining a light on names like Sean Gullette, Clint Mansell, Matthew Libatique and Robert D. Siegel. And let’s not forget the revitalization of Mickey Rourke.
A recent addition to the Aronofsky stable has been screenwriter Mark Heyman (“Black Swan“), who’s now teaming with Lionsgate for his latest script, “XOXO,” a Facebook-relationship thriller surely hoping to emulate the success of “The Social Network” and “Catfish.” The story is described as the digital age’s “Fatal Attraction” and follows a young executive on-the-rise, who’s engaged, but begins an online fling with a woman on Facebook, and things take a deadly twist.
No helmer is in place just yet but Heyman already has plans of “constructing the digital interactions [on Facebook] in stylized visual sequences” to light up the screen. Aronofsky supports his protégé here as a producer alongside Michael London (“Sideways“) through their Protozoa Pictures and Groundswell shingles, respectively.
The Variety article also reminds us that Heyman and Aronofsky are still developing their adaptation of “Machine Man,” the online serial by Max Barry which follows a tech engineer as he begins replacing parts of his body with titanium upgrades of his own design. But before that, Aronofsky plans to board his long-gestating dream project “Noah” next year.