While he’s won plenty of acclaim for his scripts (including an Oscar for The Departed), William Monahan had a rude awakening to the changeable nature of success and filmmaking with his directorial debut, London Boulevard. But that rough first experience isn’t stopping him from giving it another go, setting up crime thriller Mojave.
Like many scripts at the moment, all of the plot specifics are being kept strictly under lock and key, which usually means we feel a little disappointed if we watch the eventual film and it turns out to contain lots of story turns we’ve seen time and time again.
Still, **Dark Knight **producer Chuck Roven is clearly happy to be overseeing the film via his Atlas Independent label, an offshoot of his main company that specialises in movies budgeted at $10 million or less.
“Working with Chuck Roven and Atlas is perfection from my point of view, and has already led to a brilliant ongoing relationship,” Monahan said in a press release swiped by Deadline. “It’s the strongest possible company and they’re specifically in the business of protecting quality work. Atlas and I have decided to do a lot of work together and here we go.” Anyone else hear him dicating that last line in the style of Heath Ledger's Joker? Just us?
Once he’s locked down a cast, Monahan aims to be in production this August.