Although he’s yet to begin filming on his upcoming Elvis Presley film with Austin Butler and tom Hanks, Baz Luhrmann already has eyes on what’s next. A long-sought passion project has come together with Luhrmann securing the rights to satirical Russian novel The Master and Margarita.
Deadline reports Luhrmann will produce and possibly direct an adaptation of Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov’s book, The Master and Margarita, considered by many to be one of the finest literary works of the 20th-century, although it was banned during the author’s lifetime . A biting satire of Russian society (dangerously written during Stalin’s regime) and Christian philosophy, the story partially centers on the arrival of Satan to the atheist Soviet Union of the 1930s; another aspect takes place in Jerusalem during Pontius Pilate’s trial of Jesus.
Multiple international adaptations have already been made, while Roman Polanski was approached by Warner Bros. to direct one in 1989. That fell through when the studio decided it was no longer relevant after the Berlin Wall’s collapse…well, that and they were worried about the budget. Which makes Luhrmann’s approach interesting because budgets tend to balloon under his watch.
Luhrmann begins work on his Elvis biopic in February, so it’ll be awhile before he has time for anything else.
