Director James Mangold has teamed up with 20th Century Studios to develop a film about the silent-screen legend Buster Keaton, Mangold is set to direct and produce.

Mangold is currently working on the production of the fifth Indiana Jones film starring Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and Mads Mikkelson. His team has had meetings with writers to adapt Keaton’s biography Buster Keaton: Cut to the Chase by Marion Meade. The book explores Keaton’s often violent childhood acting experiences, his shame surrounding a lack of education, life-threatening alcoholism, and a rocky marriage. 

Keaton’s career ranges from his start in child acting, performing in Vaudeville, to his groundbreaking silent short and feature films. Through his later work, personal struggles, and critical evaluations of cinema’s towering artists- Keaton did it all. The film about his life and work will be a part of James Mangold’s first-look deal with 20th Century Studios. 

Mangold, most recently, directed and produced the 20th Century’s Ford vs. Ferrari. The screenplay writer and director is also known for his long list of Oscar-nominated films such as Heavy, Cop Land, Girl Interrupted, Walk The Line, 3:10 To Yuma, and Logan.