One of the must-see movies of the month, Jeremy Saulnier‘s "Green Room" finds the "Blue Ruin" filmmaker further staking his claim as one of the most exciting genre helmers at the moment. And the director, who so far has walked his own independent path, may be taking on his first studio project.
Saulnier is reportedly slated to helm "Defection" for 20th Century Fox. Based on the 1973 book "The Defection of A.J. Lewinter" by Robert Littell, but updated for the post-Edward Snowden era, the Black List approved script by Ken Nolan ("Black Hawk Down") follows an intelligence contractor who defects to North Korea, taking a mysterious bag with him, with the CIA hiring an expert trained during the Cold War to help with the case. Sounds like standard spy thriller stuff with a modern twist, but Saulnier thus far has proven that he doesn’t walk the expected genre path, so if this bears out, it’ll be interesting see what his take on the material will be.
So, keep your ear the ground, and see "Green Room" when it opens on April 15th. [The Tracking Board]