Michael B. Jordan and Michael Shannon are attached to a new adaptation of the high school required reading list perennial Fahrenheit 451. Variety is reporting that the two stars will star in a new film version of Ray Bradbury’s classic science-fiction novel currently in development at HBO Films.
Set in a future where reading is forbidden, Jordan will be playing Montag, a young fireman whose job is to burn any book that is discovered. But as he slowly becomes disillusioned with his life and realizes that he is a tool in a process designed to systematically dumb down the population, Montag comes into conflict with his captain and mentor Beatty, being played by Shannon.
Ramin Bahrani is set to direct the film and is co-writing the screenplay with Amir Naderi. The two previous collaborated on the suburb 2014 film 99 Homes, which starred Shannon as a real estate broker who specialized in re-possessed from people who were foreclosed upon. If 99 Homes is anything to go by, Fahrenheit 451 should also examine characters trapped in and fighting back against worlds of dubious morality.
Fahrenheit 451 was previously adapted for the big screen in 1966, directed by François Truffaut and starring Oskar Werner, Julie Christie and Cyril Cusack.
