Hollywood is giving Eliot Ness another shot at the big screen.
Ness, the famous lawman who chased gangster Al Capone, is getting the movie treatment via Jason Bourne franchise filmmaker Paul Greengrass, who is in negotiations to direct a new feature project.
Brian Helgeland, who won a best adapted screenplay Oscar for L.A. Confidential, wrote the project, titled Ness, which is set up at Paramount. The studio previously tackled the figure with the 1987 Brian De Palma-helmed pic The Untouchables, which starred Kevin Costner and Robert De Niro and earned Sean Connery a best supporting actor Oscar.
The new project isn’t a rehash of the Capone tale but is based on Brian Michael Bendis and Marc Andreyko’s graphic novel Torso.
Ness made his name during the Prohibition Era, where he led a team in Chicago known as the Untouchables to take down Capone. He later spent time fighting crime in Cleveland, Ohio. Although he had personal problems and his career slowly withered, his fame as an incorruptible lawman grew.
Torso focuses on Ness’ time in Cleveland, where he got involved in the hunt for a serial killer who was leaving bodies in a river and taunting notes for police.
Hollywood has been trying to get Torso made since the mid-2000s and has had David Fincher and David Lowery attached to direct previous incarnations. Greengrass, Greg Goodman, John Davis and John Fox are producing. David Engel of Circle of Confusion is also producing.
