Michael Mann To Direct Chris Hemsworth In Cyber-Thriller For Legendary Pictures

Since releasing the relatively underwhelming period gangster film Public Enemies, director Michael Mann has been tested with the HBO series Luck, and has dithered over a few different potential feature directing gigs. Now it looks like he's got one locked down, and it isn't a choice off the big list that he's known to be working from over the past couple years.

The new film is currently untitled, but will feature Chris Hemsworth (Thor) in the lead role. More interesting is that the film will be made for Legendary Pictures, the outfit that is better known for big tentpole fare (such as The Dark Knight, Pacific Rim, and Godzilla) than it is for nuanced thrillers of the sort Mann tends to make.

Variety reports that the film has been in development for over a year, with Mann co-writing with Morgan Davis Foehl, who is also the writer Legendary has leaned on for a Mass Effect adaptation script.

All the trade has to report about the plot is that it "takes place in a world of cyber threats and attacks." Let's go back to Variety's report on Foehl being hired for Mass Effect, to see if there's anything useful there.

The trade reported late last year that the writer has "penned action pics with a strong espionage bent, material similar to the overall plot of the "Mass Effect" games." Some of the writer's other mentioned projects (such as an adaptation of the Top Cow comic Crosshair, and the Black Listed mob thriller Whatever Gets You Through the Night) don't fit that mold. Could this script be among the projects Variety was alluding to at the time? Look for more details soon.

Meanwhile, as someone who really loved the digital cinematography Mann employed in Collateral (and also in Miami Vice), but thought it was very unsuited for Public Enemies, I'm happy to see that his next film will be set in a period and style for which his current visual style could be a perfect fit.