Back in 2012, The General, a biopic about George Washington, was attached to Darren Aronofsky. At the time, Aronofsky, still riding off the wild success of his Oscar-winning Black Swan, seemed inseparable from the project. Variety reported that The General was “a film that Aronofsky is eager to make” and it was positioned to be Black Swan’s immaculate followup. Unfortunately, details surrounding the project were always scarce and, after a while with no new updates, people stopped talking about its existence at all.
Four years later and apparently the logistics surrounding the production of The General haven’t really progressed much at all, as it was announced today that there is now another director in talks to take the movie on — meaning that filming has definitely not started. But, thankfully, this is no ordinary director; this is Martin Scorsese.
The acclaimed Oscar-winner just finished directing the pilot episode for Showtime’s Vinyl, which concluded its first season on April 17, and his newest film Silence is believed to be hitting theaters sometime soon. He also is continually working on his Frank Sinatra biopic, and, at one time, was developing something for HBO about Pope Celestine V. But none of this can stop the man who once admitted that he had “never been on vacation.”
If the rumors are true, Scorsese may take on directing duties for The General, on top of all the other projects that he is directing (and on top of all the other ones that he’s producing). The script for the film was penned by Adam Cooper and Bill Collage, who previously worked together on Exodus: Gods and Kings, so, take from that what you will.