James Ponsoldt (The Spectacular Now) is in talks to direct another author’s biopic. The director of the upcoming The End of the Tour is reportedly in talks to helm the F. Scott Fitzgerald-centered film West of Sunset. The movie will focus on the remaining years of the writer’s life as he moved to Los Angeles to parlay his experience writing novels – including The Great Gatsby – into a screenwriting career, before passing away three years later.
Pondsolt is currently a hot director with the release of his David Foster Wallace biopic, The End of the Tour, fast approaching. He’s also on tap to direct a Hillary Clinton biopic, Rodham, and the sci-fi picture The Circle, starring Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina) and Tom Hanks (Inferno).
West of Sunset won’t be the first time Fitzgerald has appeared as a character in a recent film. Tom Hiddleston (I Saw the Light) played the writer in the 2011 Woody Allen comedy Midnight in Paris.
Very little information about West of Sunset, including casting and a release date, has been announced at this time. We’ll be sure to have more as the project develops.