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EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros is putting together quite a package to adapt the 2003 Jon Krakauer book Under The Banner Of Heaven.In the deal coming together, Milk and J Edgar scribe Dustin Lance Black will write the script for Ron Howard to direct. Howard and his Imagine Entertainment partner Brian Grazer will produce with Shannon Costello, Jason Bateman and Stephanie Davis.
Under the Banner Of Heaven focuses on two brothers who murdered the wife and infant daughter of their younger brother. The killers claimed they were acting on orders from God, consistent with their interpretation of a fundamentalist interpretation that goes back to the formation of Mormonism. The brothers were members of a splinter group called the School of Prophets, which adhered to original tenets of the faith that included polygamy and a belief that true believers could speak directly with God. These were rooted as the faith grew to a mainstream appeal, but the brothers remain convinced they were obeying God’s command when they committed the heinous crime. Imagine’s Erica Huggins will be executive producer. Krakauer wrote Into Thin Air and Where Men Win Glory, the latter about football star-turned Army ranger Pat Tillman.
Grazer and Howard just worked with Black and Warner Bros on J. Edgar, the project that Imagine developed and produced with Clint Eastwood’s Malpaso. Eastwood directed Leonardo DiCaprio in the role of FBI head J Edgar Hoover, and Warner Bros releases the film October 21.
Howard and Grazer are prepping Rush, the Formula One drama scripted by Peter Morgan with Chris Hemsworth starring. Cross Creek Pictures is financing and no domestic distributor has yet been set. Howard and Grazer just learned that Universal will not move forward with the adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower that they intend to make with Akiva Goldsman and Javier Bardem. The filmmakers are regrouping and will shop the project elsewhere, with Warner Bros considered a possible landing place.
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So, at the end of the day, Ron Howard and Imagine have another project developing at WB.
Still think Universal was right to pass on the multi-platform, hugely expensive King deal.
And, who knows…maybe it will land elsewhere.
It’s not going to land elsewhere. It’s too expensive and no one has heard of the books, much less read them. This project I like, however. Unfortunately, it will ultimately be something that Dustin Lance Black — talented as he is — will write in a short amount of time, and no amount of development will make it a tepid offering.
Imagine will find Howard a small, independent film to shine with. My guess would be something they can put Russell Crowe in, as I think women still want to see him do his thing.
“Under the Banner of Heaven” was a bestseller, in part because after “Into Thin Air” (or arguably even earlier with “Into the Wild”), Jon Krakauer became one of the few authors whose name alone can sell books.
Perhaps you might want to do some reading yourself before the next time you’re tempted to display your embarrassing ignorance on Deadline.
Ron and Dan rejected the counsel of the Mormon church. The church cannot be blamed for their actions. What is less known is that they were members of the School of the Prophets for less than 3 months. They were expelled from the School just for talking about using violence. Thus, they also rejected the counsel of the School of the Prophets. Again, the School cannot be blamed for their actions. Kraukauer knows that sensational books sell better. Warner Brothers knows that sensational movies sell better. If someone sees this movie and then goes out and hurts or kills Mormons or members of the School will that be OK?
DLB seems to be bound and determined to attach himself to anything negative to Mormons. No H8 goes both ways.
DLB writes meaningfull criticism of a silly religion that he has first hand experience with, a religion that has way too much leverage in politics (heaven forbid the white house) and according to his accounts nearly ruined his life and HE’S the hater? Clearly you’re Mormon and have a pedictably loose understanding of your own institutional history.
Read a book that was not written by Joseph Smith. You might learn something.
Elsie M seems to be bound and determined to attach herself to anything negative to DLB. No H8 goes both ways.
Yawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwn. Easy targets make for boring movies.
More brave Western religion bashing from the director who eliminated the Muslim background of his killer in Angels and Demons. Of course, his fellow libs will love this new movie, and why shouldn’t they? They have nothing to fear as far as retribution for their generalized hatred; Mormon splinter groups don’t generally issue death-sentence fatwas. But Opie wouldn’t go near any story that featured the daily atrocities committed against Christians and women in the Muslim world, where you can get stoned to death for being the victim of rape. Gutless and weak.
Well, I’m a Liberal and I agree with you. So there…
I agree with you. If you’re going to take on the subject matter of religious extremism, then address it across the board. If a film-maker/writer doesn’t have the balls to do that, they should just leave it alone completely.
It’s a great book — has anyone read it? Krakauer is a national treasure… this story deserves to be told; splinter religions in the USA, which are primarily Christian bases, deserve real scrutiny and pose a bigger threat than Islam — get real, grow up — read the book before you pee on it.
The book was fantastic. It’ll be good for American audiences to be reminded that the first time “holy war” was brought to America, it was by Americans, and in case of the American West pre-civil war, it was Mormons who were determined to “shed the blood of their enemies [infidels] on the ground for God.”
Fascinating read. Let’s hope Howard/Grazer dont sanitize a very tragic and gruesome and important story.
If you read the book, you’ll see that the fringe fundamentalist (fringe but not exactly rare) have more in common with present day Taliban than any Mormon would like to admit.
@elsie M
DLB writes meaningfull criticism of a silly religion that he has first hand experience with, a religion that has way too much leverage in politics (heaven forbid the white house) and according to his accounts nearly ruined his life and HE’S the hater? Clearly you’re Mormon and have a pedictably loose understanding of your own institutional history.
And read a well-written response before deciding that Krakauer’s book is a “national treasure”:
“Doing Violence to Journalistic Integrity”
http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/review/?reviewed_author&vol=16&num=1&id=530
Nice try TL. The Foundation of Ancient Research and Mormon Studies calling Krakauer’s meticulously researched book libelous is beyond stupid. No one outside of Utah take FARMS seriously, and they were the only organization that even bothered to raise a complaint. They got nothing. The book was great. Of course Mormons and the LDS establishment are not going to appreciate a book that reveals their heroes and “prophets” as hucksters, murderers, hostile racists, pedophiles, rapists, extortionist, etc. Grow up.
Beautiful ad hominem.
Well, it is obvious that you are incapable of having a rational discussion.
Yes, Mormons are all about rational discussion.
Free yourself TL. The world outside your salty gate is beautifully complex and intricate.
If I told you that in Kings James language and said it was from God, would you believe me? Mormons believe anything so long as it’s pronounced in King James language.
So, you believe it’s right for people to bear false witness of a person and a group?
There are MANY well educated mormons of our history. Krakauer and other anti-mormons do nothing but use a little truth to tell great lies, by omitting important facts and truth. Thus, they bear false witness. Anyone thinking Krakauers book is any sort of a treasure, is a brainwashed bigot, and have taken no time at all to learn what the actual truth is, the truth Krakauer doesn’t tell you, so he can portray the Church in the most negative light.
Further, Krakauer was paid by an anti-mormon group to write the book. How can you get more biased than that?
Surely you jest, TL, suggesting the hacks and apologists at FARMS have anything of “integrity” to add to any serious discussion. I’m surprised they found the time to take on Krakauer, so busy are they defending Book of Mormon fantasies on New World genealogy from the debunking onslaught of actual science. And get a grip– Krakauer dealt with Foster’s “review” in an afterward in UTBH. So, uh, yeah, let’s resume prior discussion: Krakauer as national treasure.
Classic ad hominem.
You can call it whatever rhetorical trope you like, Mets, but Mormonism, like all religions, runs the gamut from decent, caring believers to truly scary fanatics. It would be a tragedy to taint all Mormons, as it would be to taint all Christians/Jews/Muslims, etc, with the actions of their worst adherents. And it is certainly fair to say that those “adherents” are rightly denounced as not truly representative of their respective faiths. But all that said, one can’t simply ignore that there are people who have done terrible things in the name of what they claim as their particular faiths, and they do leave believers stuck with a lot to answer for.
Oh ad hominem ad shomonem. The fact is FARMS purveys crackpot junk science and is held in complete professional disregard at any and every other academic institution across the land. Outside of the confines of BYU, they’re a joke. Deal with it.
Anybody who claims that FARMS scholars are not worthy of respect on Mormon issues had better have a lifetime of study and degree that reflects a scholarly level of Mormonism. Otherwise, the claim is like a literature expert dismissing a biology expert’s work. And the claim that they are “hacks” is just childish.
Angels and Demons was a perfect movie. Thrilling to the last drop.
ya know james, i understand that to a hammer every problem looks like a nail. your a guy who sees liberal conspiracies behind everything, i’m sure, and religious dogma is the only counterweight.
i get it. not my thing, but i get it.
having said that, i EP’d a movie for Lifetime about 5 years ago about a Warren Jeffs-like character. you know, an extremist mormon terrorist who terrorized children and women and other men, was involved in multiple murders and believes both that he’s going to heaven and everybody else is going to hell. oh, and he also believes that his interpretation of mormonism is MUCH more accurate than those apostates up in salt lake. why, HE’S the REAL mormon, don’t cha know.
so if i was some sort of idiot like you, i guess i would conflate mr. jeffs and mormonism in general, and say that mormons are polygamist mysoginist terrorist vicious violent bigots, and that their religion demands they behave that way–just ask him!
but i’m not, so i won’t.
The book was a fantastic read. Kraukauer is a talented writer. One thing to remember, these guys were NOT Mormon. Interested to see how this turnout.
Uh, yes they were actually. The Lafferty Brothers were as Mormon as they come.
Why don’t you go back to Salt Lake City, where revisionist history is more appreciated.
Under The Banner of Heaven is a page turner, interspersing the movements of the murder and the history of Mormon. Non-fiction, and still relevant 8 years later. How many of us understand a religion and culture that is bulldozing our society?
Ron Howard has got to be one of the most boring filmmakers around.
Oh really? Ron Howard is a boring filmmaker? I didn’t find anything boring about “Cinderella Man”, “Frost/Nixon”, “Apollo 13″, “Ransom”, “A Beautiful Mind”, “The Paper”, “Parenthood”, or “Splash”, to name a few. I think your name says it all yaaaaawn. You sound a little dim witted.
You just listed a bunch of 3 star movies filled with 4 star talent and 4 star budgets. Thats Ron Howard. Thats what he does.
Cinderella Man, Frost/Nixon, Apollo 13, and a bueatiful mind — all based on true stories, some snooze because theyre well known events where an eucated person already knows what happens in the end and the others snooze cause theyre extremely predictable where any educated person can easily guess the outcome.
Ransom — remake.
Splash is solid.
Parenthood is just another star loaded blank check 3 star movie out of Ron that isnt bad, but not overly good either.
Very nice man, good studio film director, but wouldn’t have had the career/opportunities he’s had if he wasnt a child star and was just some guy who moved to hollywood after college to become a director.
Not a personal indictment, ya take what ya can get and you can’t blame him, but its the truth nonetheless.
Would like to see a little more of what he showed with The Missing tho.
Mormonism managed to stick around this long, and become a “legitimate” religion in America, because they modified their original belief system to more closely conform to mainstream Chrisitanity. Any religion that hangs around long enough gets some sort of legitimacy by default. Just look at the ridiculousness of Scientology, but it’s still here.
it occurs to me after looking at the photos of Grazer and Opie above, that Grazer looks perfectly suited to play Warren Jeffs.
Can’t wait to attend the movie! the book was enlightening. I have shared it with many who now call Mormonism a cult. Go for it Ron Howard
Interesting release date… just prior to the November elections and the Mormon candidate vs. the Black candidate. How ironic…