EXCLUSIVE: Even though Sundance’s business seems to be heating up, it looks like 2021 has its first big sale on the horizon. Although the deal has not yet been closed, we hear that MGM is in exclusive negotiations for the supernatural thriller To drift with Jared Leto for the star and Darren Aronofsky on board to direct. Jason Blum will produce. Sources say that once the package hit the market earlier in the week, MGM was extremely aggressive and moved quickly to be in pole position to get the package. Financing details were not available as the deal was not officially closed.
Blum will produce through his Blumhouse Productions along with Leto and Emma Ludbrook through his production company Paradox, as well as Carla Hacken through his Paper Pictures banner.
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The film is based on a short story by Koji Suzuki, who wrote The ring. Aronofsky and Luke Dawson will co-author the script. Sources close to the package say that Leto identified the project and he and Ludbrook sought the rights for 10 years before bringing it to Blum and Aronofsky.
The story takes place in the calm of the open sea, where a fishing boat discovers an abandoned yacht with a strange call for help. A sailor agrees to take control on his own while he is towed to port, but soon finds out why the rest of his more experienced crew members call him “Ghost Ship”.
No production start date has been set, as a script has yet to be written and the schedule needs to be worked out. Aronofsky has his eye on the A24’s The whale as his next project, which he will shoot with Brendan Fraser in March, while Leto has Ridley Scott’s Gucci followed by the Apple TV + series WeCrashed, that the network just picked up for a series this morning.
Leto has The Small things from Warner Bros. starring alongside Denzel Washington and Rami Malek. This movie is coming out Friday in theaters and on HBO Max. He’s also developing a handful of projects, including a sequel to Tron: Legacy, who lured him to star and Garth Davis to direct. It can also be seen in the next Spider man spin off Morbius.
Leto is represented by WME and Aronofsky is represented by CAA. Suzuki’s tale is represented by Kadokawa.