A film adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s classic novel “Fahrenheit 451” is in the works at HBO. Michael B. Jordan and Michael Shannon are on board to star in the lead roles.
Published in 1953, Bradbury’s dystopian novel is set in a futuristic American city, where people do not read books and firefighters start fires, instead of putting them out. As reported by Variety, Jordan will play Guy Montag, a young fireman who is hired to burn the belongings of those who read outlawed books; but he end up rebelling against his boss and mentor, fire chief Beatty, who will be played by Shannon.
Ramin Bahrani and Amir Naderi, the writers behind Shannon’s 2015 drama “99 Homes,” will write the script for the TV film, with Bahrani also directing and executive producing. Jordan will also serve as an executive producer through his Outlier Productions, along with Sarah Green of Brace Cove Productions, Alan Gasmer, Peter Jaysen and Bahrani of Noruz Films. David Coatsworth is a producer.
Bradbury’s novel was previously adapted into a film in 1966 by François Truffaut, and in 1982, BBC Radio put together a dramatization of the novel. In 1979, Bradbury published a stage play version of his book and later helped develop an interactive computer game of the same name.
