Darren Aronofsky Marches To The General

Steven Spielberg isn’t the only director tackling the life of a famous American president. But while he’s already working through post-production on Lincoln, Darren Aronofsky is just setting up The General, which will focus on George Washington.

Like Spielberg’s project, The General will apparently bring its lens to bear on a specific chunk of Washington’s life, though it’s not yet certain which one. According to Variety, the project will be more in the style of Unforgiven than some dusty historical narrative - but then, this is Aronofsky we’re talking about; it’s not like he was going to approach it from a typical angle.

Adam Cooper and Bill Collage are behind the script, which Aronofsky’s Protozoa Pictures is offering to Paramount under its first-look deal. But if the studio passes, other distributors will get a shot.

Even if someone does jump at the chance to produce the movie, the director won’t get started quite yet, as he’s already busy locking in the cast for his next job, Biblical tale Noah. Russell Crowe is already aboard to play the title character, who struggles with man’s inhumanity towards animals, his own battles with alcohol and the small matter of God’s warning about the impending floods. Aronofsky veteran Jennifer Connelly is also circling a lead role.

Given how interested he seems in getting that made, it would appear that The General is likely to fill the first slot on his schedule once Noah’s cinematic ark has been successfully docked. Now we'll set our American history sleuths to work figuring out which Washington story he'll tell: where's Diane Kruger's National Treasure character when we need her?