Never one to avoid grim subject matter, Darren Aronofsky is now attached to direct The Good Nurse: A True Story Of Medicine, Madness And Murder, about a registered nurse who also was one of the deadliest serial killers in history. The film, based on the nonfiction book by Charles Graeber, will expose the murderous doings of Charlie Cullen, a nurse who was implicated in the deaths of as many as 300 patients. A portion of the book’s synopsis follows:
Cullen’s murderous career in the world’s most trusted profession spanned sixteen years and nine hospitals across New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Investigative journalist Charles Graeber’s portrait of Cullen depicts a surprisingly intelligent and complicated young man whose promising career was overwhelmed by his compulsion to kill, and whose shy demeanor masked a twisted interior life hidden even to his family and friends.
Aronofsky is quite adept at building terror in hospital settings, as fans learned the hard way during the amputation scene in Requiem For A Dream and the face-stabbing scene in Black Swan. So the only lingering question is when exactly he’ll actually make The Good Nurse, since he is now developing a new HBO series based on Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy and presumably is still orbiting that “Fargo on the moon” script. In the meantime, we have the book and a general fear of hospitals (it’s the smell) to keep us company.
[via The Playlist]