He leapt out of the director’s chair for Deepwater Horizon, but A Most Violent Year’s J.C. Chandor isn’t sitting around twiddling his thumbs. He has several projects in development, and has added another, making a deal to produce and potentially direct the adaptation of Vicky Ward’s book **The Liar’s Ball.
Ward’s non-fiction tome chronicles the struggles and tactics of real-estate titan Harry Macklemore, who fought to own and develop the GM building in New York during the 1990s and early 2000s. Although he lost that fight, he would go on to run his own property empire, with the former GM structure replaced by the glass cube of Apple’s flagship New York store.
Gideon Yago is aboard to write the script and has thrown himself into research for producers including Chandor, Eva Maria Daniels and Zachary Quinto, who co-starred in and helped Chandor’s **Margin Call **become a reality.
“Commercial real estate in New York City has long fascinated me, to the point where I once had a broker’s license,” Chandor said in a press release picked up by Variety. “The story that Vicky has captured through relentless research and interviews explores the drama and the romantic nature of buildings in a city that has continued to push closer and closer to the sky with each passing year."
Whether Chandor actually does direct might hinge on the script, but it’s clear he’s close to the topic. He’s also worked on a script about American football legend Vince Lombardi and a thriller called Portofino.