Coen Brothers To Pen Silk Road Thriller ‘Dark Web’
By Angie Han/Oct. 14, 2016 3:06 pm EST
Formerly titled Silk Road, Dark Web has been in the works since about 2013. THR reports the Coens are following an earlier draft by Shutter Island and Live by Night author Dennis Lehane. The film is based on Joshuah Bearman’s Wired article “The Untold Story of Silk Road.” (You can read it in two parts here and here.) Published in 2015, the piece follows Ulbricht’s journey from an idealistic used bookseller into a murderous drug kingpin. The Coens seem like a remarkably good fit for the project; it’s previously been compared to the Coens’ own Fargo for all its crazy twists and turns.
The Coens are best known for the films they’ve written and directed. Their most recent release was Hail, Caesar!, which proved to be a big breakthrough for future Han Solo Alden Ehrenreich. But they have often contributed to movies they don’t direct, like Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies (which got them an Original Screenplay Oscar nomination), Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken, and George Clooney’s upcoming Suburbicon.
Bearman will produce Dark Web with Joshua Davis, Peter Chernin, and Jeno Topping. No director has been announced.
