Sentient fist-bump Channing Tatum loves Evel Knievel. He’s been trying for years now to get a biopic of the stuntman off the ground, serving as producer of the film while also starring as the injury-prone hotshot. And now, it looks like the motorbike-riding stars are in alignment, as Deadline reports director Darren Aronofsky is in talks to helm the project. It would be an apropos match, as the auteur’s last film was also about a crazed stuntman who risked death to ride the ultimate wave. (No, not the remake of Point Break.)
Knievel first achieved nationwide fame in the ’70s thanks to his televised motorcycle jumps and ultimately racked up 433 broken bones before dying in 2007. Tatum’s film will be based on Stuart Barker’s 2008 book Life Of Evel, though one assumes the showmanship-savvy stuntman would recognize that when it comes to the movie version, Knievel Dead 2 is a more marketable name. Although, if Aronofsky lands the directing gig, we’ll presumably get much greater insight into Knievel’s mindset via horrifying closeups of bones breaking and feverish dream sequences in which the motorcycle is a metaphor for the soul. Regardless, it’ll be better than the last film about him, Viva Knievel!, in which Evel Knievel failed to convincingly portray Evel Knievel.