Sean Penn is is looking to become a Genius, in the story of literary editor Max Perkins which reunites him with Bill Pohlad, who worked with the actor on Fair Game and the long awaited Tree of Life from Terrence Malick.
Pohland will step behind the camera for the first time in twenty years, and in an interview with StarTribune it’s clear why it has taken so long to return to directing
While I hate [Old Explores], it did OK in the sense that it had a limited theatrical release. Showtime bought it; it was on there a million times. It came out on Academy Home Video. But we never saw a dime back. We got screwed on the deal and I just never wanted to do that again.
His association with Penn, and the long road the story has taken to get to the screen indicates a strong desire to get this film off the ground, and this is what THR are saying about the story,
The John Logan script adapts A. Scott Berg’s National Book Award-winning 2008 biography, “Max Perkins: Editor of Genius,” telling the story of Perkins, the fedora-wearing eccentric editor-in-chief at New York publishing house Scribner, where he oversaw the release of works by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway.
“Genius” would focus on the relationship between Perkins and a young Thomas Wolfe, though the script is peopled with literary characters.
If Penn jumps on board, I’m sold.
