Hollywood may be running out ideas, but fortunately, there’s a whole world of books and video games out there that are just waiting to be strip-mined for future projects. The Host and Jack Reacher are just a few recent examples of such adaptations, with plenty more on the horizon.
Take director Joe Carnahan for instance. He’s hot stuff in Hollywood right now, and with plans for a Daredevil movie now deader than disco, he’s going to be heading to the library to brush up on knowledge for his next flick. And it looks to be as raw as his previous work.
Having also left Death Wish behind, Carnahan is looking to adapt Devils in Exile next. It’ll be known as Sugar Bandits though, as Carnahan tackles the 2010 Chuck Hogan penned book that deals with war veterans and drugs. Here’s the official synopsis from the dust jacket:
When Neal Maven and a crew of fellow Iraq War veterans begin ripping off Boston-area drug dealers for profit, their lives are quickly put into jeopardy. As Maven’s involvement deepens, two worrisome things happen: he begins to suspect that their leader has a sinister ulterior motive, and he lusts after the leader’s girl—a tough former model with a drug problem. As the rip-off jobs get riskier, Maven and his crew are soon pursued by both a smart federal DEA agent and by a pair of psychopathic Jamaican hit men on a drug lords’ payroll. When everything goes bad—and it goes very bad—Maven embarks on a one-man crusade to right the wrongs in which he unwittingly participated. Not everyone will survive his crusade, and Maven himself may not live to see the final outcome….
This should fit in nicely with the style that Carnahan has developed so far with his work in Hollywood. It’s got a a grotty feel to it, and the street level action should be something that he can transition into nicely. Sugar Bandits also has some producers signed up already, as Tom McNulty, Marc Shmuger and Richard Abate will be giving Carnahan a hand.
Last Updated: April 30, 2013
