Hail Caesar: Julius to Big Screen

Look out for backstabbers, buddy. 

Look, another graphic novel adaptation is here.

This time, Variety says, it’s Julius from Oni Press. Mandalay Pictures picked up the rights to the novel written by Antony Johnston and illustrated by Brett Weldele. F. Gary Gray is set to direct the modern urban crime drama interpretation of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.

Mandalay president Cathy Schulman says this about Gray:

“[he] has a vision for this adaptation that will satirize obsessive consumerism while providing a thrilling ride for audiences.”

Audiences love thrill rides! Satire, usually not so much.

Gray directed The Italian Job and The Negotiator. I liked The Italian Job a lot, but could barely make it through about ten minutes of The Negotiator when it showed up on TV one night. To be fair, though, I don’t know if I can blame that on Gray; looked like it was just a bad script. That shouldn’t be too much of a problem here; that Shakespeare guy, he knew what he was doing.

Oni Press is popular with the movie folks these days, with numerous projects based on their material in the works, including the rather high-profile Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, starring Michael Cera, to be directed by Edgar Wright.

Needless to say, it’s too early for any casting or anything like that on Julius.