EXCLUSIVE: After setting sell with their hot Treasure Island package last month, Ridley Scott and Hugh Jackman look to have found the film a place to call home as sources tell Deadline Sony Pictures is in negotiations to land the project with Scott directing and Jackman on board to play the pirate Blackbeard. Jack Thorne penned the adaptation of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson novel with Scott and Michael Pruss producing through the Scott Free banner.
Sony had no comment on the talks.
Deadline first reported last month that Scott had declared this film his next project after being blown away by Thorne’s adaptation of the classic novel. We also reported that 20th Century — Scott’s go-to studio that will release his next film The Dog Starsthis August — did get a first look at it. It was ultimately a no from 20th not because both parties didn’t want to work together, but rather because 20th Century is a Disney division; since Pirates of the Caribbean is a priority at Disney’s live-action unit, they didn’t want a competing pirates project and let it go to market. The Dog Stars is based on Peter Heller’s post-apocalyptic novel.
While several other studios gave the package a look, Sony was high on it from the jump, which makes sense given Scott’s long-standing relationship with Sony studio head Tom Rothman, who championed several of Scott’s hit films when he was co-chairman of 20th Century while also backing several recent pics like All the Money in the World and most recently Napoleon.
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The Treasure Island package is a new take on Stevenson’s novel. That story follows a young boy who uncovers the map to a legendary buried treasure, and he embarks on a perilous sea voyage to claim a hidden fortune, only to find himself locked in a deadly battle of wits with the charismatic and treacherous pirate Long John Silver.
Since its publication in 1883, Treasure Island has sold more than 100 million copies worldwide and been translated into over 50 languages, making it one of the most enduring and influential adventure novels ever written. John Musker and Ron Clements directed an animated adaptation Treasure Planet (2002), in which Joseph Gordon-Levitt voiced Jim Hawkins. Set in space and therefore leaning more science fiction, the film also featured the voices of Brian Murray as Long John Silver, Martin Short as the robot Ben and Emma Thompson as Captain Amelia.
Jackman is repped by WME and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern. Scott is repped by CAA, Thorne is repped by UTA, Casarotto Ramsay & Associates and Sloan, Offer, Weber & Dern.
