Long since established as one of our reliably great actors, Michael Sheen is finally getting his chance to add "director" to his CV. He's already written the script and will play the lead in the adaptation of Green River Killer.
The new film is based on the graphic novel Green River Killer: A True Detective Story, an Eisner-award winning tome created by Jeff Jensen about his father and illustrated by Jonathan Case.
Sheen is playing serial killer Gary Ridgeway, who in 2003 pleaded guilty to 48 charges of first degree murder during the 1980s and 1990s, where he primarily targeted women. He escaped the death penalty by agreeing to help locate the victims. Tom Jensen was the detective put in charge of tracking the man down and finally found him using DNA technology. Once he was in custody, Jensen spent 180 days interviewing Ridgeway to learn his secrets.
“This is a dark story but one that ultimately finds hope and meaning in that darkness,” Sheen says in a statement that Variety ran. “The story of Tom and Gary, and how they are bound together in time, pulled me in from the beginning and wouldn’t let go. I hope that by now bringing it to life on screen, it can make audiences feel the same way.” He'll start building the rest of the cast and should be filming this year. Sheen will be seen in sci-fi drama Passengers, which hits the UK on December 23 and he's also back on small screens in Masters Of Sex, which returns in September.