Paramount Pictures has preemptively bought a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s psychological thriller Vertigo, IGN has confirmed.
Robert Downey Jr. is eyeing the lead role of John “Scottie” Ferguson, while Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight is set to write the screenplay.
Davis Entertainment’s John Davis and John Fox are producing with Robert and Susan Downey via Team Downey.
Paramount released the 1958 original film, starring James Stewart as John, Kim Novak as Madeleine Elster and Judy Barton, Barbara Bel Geddes as Marjorie “Midge” Wood, and Tom Helmore as Gavin Elster. Based on the French novel D’entre les morts (From Among the Dead), Vertigo follows John — a former police officer that suffers from an intense fear of heights — who is hired to prevent an old acquaintance’s wife from taking her own life. Hitchcock directed from a screenplay written by Samuel A. Taylor, Alec Coppel, and Pierre Boileau.
On the horizon, Downey stars alongside Cillian Murphy in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Knight was recently tapped to write an untitled Star Wars project, after previous screenwriters Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson’s departed the film.
The news was first reported by Deadline.
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Michaela Zee is a freelance news writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @michaelakzee.
