David Ayersure must love tanks, because theFuryfilmmaker in negotiations to direct yet another tank battle movie titledEl-Alameinfor Lionsgate, Collider has confirmed.
David Selfwrote the original screenplay, thoughJames Coynepenned the most recent draft. El-Alamein is based on the true story of the epic battles between German Field MarshallErwin Rommeland Britain’s Eighty Army in North Africa, led byBernard Montgomery.
There were actually two battles of El Alamein during WWII, both of which were fought in 1942. The bloody battles occurred in North Africa, in Egypt, in and around an area named after a railway stop called El Alamein, and were fought in pursuit of control of the Suez Canal. They were previously dramatized in a 1969 Italian-French co-production titledThe Battle of El Alamein, which focused on the second battle, and starredRobert HosseinandMichael Rennieas Rommel and Montgomery, respectively.
Lorenzo di BonaventuraandMark Vahradianare producing for Di Bonaventura Pictures along withThomas Augsberger, and production is expected to begin early next year. Lionsgate executiveJames Myerswill oversee the project on behalf of the studio.
There’s no word on casting yet, but given the scope of this movie, I imagine Lionsgate will push Ayer to cast a major star, a laBrad PittinFury, which was actually pretty good. I’m not sure why Ayer would want to repeat himself, but I can see why the studio would turn to him given his track record filming epic tank battles.
Ayer, of course, is coming off of the critically reviled moviesBrightandSuicide Squad, though I eagerly await his gritty crime dramaThe Tax Collector, which stars a tatted-upShia LaBeouf, who co-starred inFury. Ayer, who is also attached to direct Netflix’s planned sequel toBright, is represented by WME, while Coyne is repped by Kaplan/Perrone. TheEl-Alameinnews was first reported by Deadline.
