More than a decade after the fact, Paul Haggis‘ name still tends to evoke a knee-jerk reaction among many, thanks to “Crash,” which some feel is one of the worst Best Picture Oscar winners in recent history. But even the haters would have to admit that the filmmaker did a tremendous job behind the camera of last year’s acclaimed HBO miniseries “Show Me A Hero,” and now the director, who has generally drifted toward character-driven stories, is going to try out a big-budget YA movie.
Haggis will get behind the camera for the $100 million adaptation of Paolo Bacigalupi‘s “Ship Breaker.” The story is set in a post-apocalyptic future after the ice caps have melted. Here’s the book synopsis:
In America’s Gulf Coast region, grounded oil tankers are being broken down for parts by crews of young people. Nailer, a teenage boy, works the light crew, scavenging for copper wiring just to make quota-and hopefully live to see another day. But when, by luck or by chance, he discovers an exquisite clipper ship beached during a recent hurricane, Nailer faces the most important decision of his life: Strip the ship for all it’s worth or rescue its lone survivor, a beautiful and wealthy girl who could lead him to a better life….
Yep, this is an issues-driven movie, and Haggis is just fine with that and hopes that audiences will be receptive. “Climate change is a concern of mine, and taking on a film that is not just a narrative about that is attractive,” he told THR. “I made that mistake in [2007 Iraq war drama] ‘In The Valley Of Elah‘ — although I think it is one of my best films — but at that time, no one wanted to see it. They did not want to talk about issues that were too powerful at the time.”
Speaking of issues, Deadline reports that Haggis is also producing a documentary about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan that will be directed by William Hart.
It’s two potentially powerful projects from Haggis, who is marrying his social and political concerns with filmmaking, and it’ll be interesting to see if audiences will be more eager to come along this time around than in the past.