Enron, the hit play that has been causing waves around the country since it premiered in Chichester in August 2009, has been snapped up across the pond for a possible film adaptation, with George Clooney attached to co-produce and possibly direct it.
Very little else is known at this stage, since all that has happened so far is producer Laura Ziskin snagging the rights to remake Lucy Prebble’s work on screen and securing Clooney’s interest.
Enron, as its name suggests, charts the rise and even more spectacular fall of the gigantic energy corporation, which collapsed in 2001 and was one of the most complicated and far-reaching bankruptcies to happen before 2008’s big financial crisis really kicked in.
It sounds right up Clooney’s alley, but some in the British theatrical community are understandably dismayed at the fact that, while Prebble has been hired to write at least one draft of the script, the cast of the play, which included Samuel West and Tim Pigott-Smith, won’t be recreating their roles.
"It's a great shame that the original talent hasn't been able to follow through, to put on to film what they've originally created," Philip Hedley, ex-director of the Theatre Royal Stratford East, tells the paper. And original play director Rupert Goold is also unlikely to be involved. “How do you compete with George Clooney?” he says. Good question. Cheese eating contest?
Still, the film version is at an embryonic stage, so there remains a chance that some of the original cast could make the transition, even if they don't exactly boast a lot of international appeal...