Andrew Stanton in Talks to Direct ‘Chairman Spaceman’ for Searchlight

Andrew Stanton is in talks to direct Chairman Spaceman for Searchlight Pictures and Genre Films, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Stanton will board the movie based on a 2017 New Yorker fiction story by Thomas Pierce about an infamous corporate raider who renounces his worldly wealth to become an interplanetary missionary.

Stanton helmed 2008’s WALL-E, his Oscar-winning follow-up to 2003’s Finding Nemo, which also took home the Oscar for best animated feature. He also was a writer on each of Pixar’s Toy Story films in the blockbuster animated series.

Pierce is adapting his own short story for the movie treatment. Simon Kinberg is producing alongside Genre Films’ Audrey Chon.