Anna Daniels
Andrew Stanton, director of WALL-E, John Carter, Finding Nemo, and more, is in talks to helm Chairman Spaceman, based on the short story of the same name. Simon Kinberg is producing the project, which follows a corporate raider trying to make amends for his deeds by helping colonize the solar system. The short story, written by Thomas Pierce, originally appeared in the New Yorker.
Deadline says Andrew Stanton is in talks to direct Chairman Spaceman for Searchlight Pictures and Simon Kinberg’s Genre Films. If Stanton officially signs on it would mark his first live-action feature directorial effort since 2012’s John Carter. Since then he’s directed the animated Finding Dory, as well as episodes of Stranger Things, Better Call Saul, Legion, and Tales From the Loop.
Chairman Spaceman “is set in the near future, and follows a notorious corporate raider who renounces his worldly wealth. To redeem himself, he signs up for an interplanetary mission to colonize the greater solar system. The story follows his final days on Earth and the fallout when the trip doesn’t go as planned.” Short story author Thomas Pierce is handling the script as well. Another of Pierce’s short story’s, Tardy Man, is being adapted into a Netflix movie called Pyros. Reese Witherspoon is set to star, and Kinberg is producing that as well, so the producer clearly likes the idea of working within the world of Thomas Pierce. Like Chairman Spaceman, Pierce is writing the script for Pyros.
Having not read the story in question I can’t really comment on its quality. But Stanton is a talented filmmaker, and it’s about time he got back to helming live-action features. Sure, John Carter was a flop, but it has plenty of supporters, and maybe Chairman Spaceman is exactly the right project for Stanton to stage a live-action feature “comeback,” so to speak.
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