“Slumdog Millionaire” director Danny Boyle has signed an exclusive three-year deal with Fox Searchlight, the indie mini-major studio that helped take his Mumbai romance fairytale to Oscar gold, according to the L.A. Times.
Searchlight will co-finance and co-distribute the British filmmaker’s future films. And it sounds like Boyle has his eye on a survival story not unlike “Into The Wild,” though perhaps more a tale of perseverance more than capricious escape from reality.
Apparently the filmmaker, under his first look deal, is interested in the story of Aron Ralston, the American mountain climber who made headlines in 2003 when he was forced to amputate part of his arm when it became pinned under a boulder in a hiking accident.
The article does not mention “Maximum City” at all, another Mumbai project with Boyle’s name attached to it that ‘Slumdog’ scribe Simon Beaufoy is writing, nor are there any further details on the Ralston drama. Has a screenplay been written? Is there a writer attached? No info. We’re still betting Boyle doesn’t direct “Maximum City” next and we do hope he does tackle a musical, in the rumored remake of “My Fair Lady” eventually. Musicals are damn underrated.