Neil Burger To Direct New BONNIE AND CLYDE Movie

Get ready for another Bonnie and Clyde movie. It's being reported that Neil Burger, director of such films as The Illusionist (the Edward Norton one) and more recently Limitless, is now in talks to adapt a book entitled Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde. Oscar-winning Up in the Air screenwriter Sheldon Turner is also in talks to write the screenplay.

Written by Jeff Guinn and published last year by Simon & Schuster, the book is said to tell a far less romanticized version of the famous outlaw tale than the one portrayed in Arthur Penn's 1967 masterpiece. Details highlighted include the fact that Clyde's first murder was of his sexually abusive prison cell mate and that Bonnie was a prostitute before teaming up with Clyde.

From the author's official website:

Bestselling author Jeff Guinn combines exhaustive research with surprising, newly discovered material to tell the real tale of two kids from a filthy Dallas slum who fell in love and then willingly traded their lives for a brief interlude of excitement and, more important, fame. Go Down Together has it all - true romance, rebellion against authority, bullets flying, cars crashing, and, in the end, a dramatic death at the hands of a celebrity lawman.

This is the real story of Bonnie and Clyde and their troubled times, delivered with cinematic sweep by a masterful storyteller.

The idea of making a new film version of the Bonnie & Clyde story will no doubt irritate some die-hard fans of the original Warren Beatty/Faye Dunaway movie (there was also a 1992 TV movie with Tracey Needham and Dana Ashbrook). But I don't see much of an issue considering it's based not only on a real life event but also on a recently published book which sheds new light on the duo.

Burger is not yet officially committed to the film - next up he has the video game adaptation Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (nothing to say he can't do both, though). I'm not the biggest fan of his in the world as I thought The Illusionist looked nice but was ultimately boring and Limitless was fun but nothing memorable (I've yet to see Interview With the Assassin and The Lucky Ones). However I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. And having an Oscar-winning screenwriter like Turner certainly doesn't hurt.