Avengers: Infinity War directors Anthony and Joe Russo will take a break from superheroes and the Marvel Cinematic Universe after Avengers 4 as the duo are reportedly eyeing novel Cherry as their next project, Deadline reports.
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A dramatization of real life events penned by former Army medic turned PTSD-ridden and opioid-addicted bank robber Nico Walker, Cherry is described as “a breakneck-paced debut novel about love, war, bank robberies, and heroin.” The project is one of several being developed by the Russo brothers’ start up studio AGBO, who entered into exclusive negotiation for the rights with a $1 million outright buy.
The Path creator and executive producer Jessica Goldberg will pen the script. The Russo brothers intend to direct, marking their first post-Avengers project after helming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, and back-to-back Avengers movies for Marvel Studios.
Deadline previously reported the auction for Cherry’s rights was put on hold because Walker, who has been imprisoned since 2011 and won’t be released until 2020, ran out of phone minutes and was not able to participate in offer dealings until this past Sunday.
According to a profile by The New York Times, the first-time novelist robbed nearly a dozen banks and stole just shy of $40,000 over four months after returning home from Iraq with undiagnosed PTSD.
Per its synopsis:
It’s 2003, and as a college freshman in Cleveland, our narrator is adrift until he meets Emily. The two of them experience an instant, life-changing connection. But when he almost loses her, he chooses to make an indelible statement: he joins the Army.
The outcome will not be good for either of them.
As a medic in Iraq, he is unprepared for the realties that await him. He and his fellow soldiers huff computer duster, abuse painkillers, and watch porn. Many of them die. When he comes home, his PTSD is profound. As the opioid crisis sweeps through the Midwest, it drags both him and Emily along with it. As their addictions worsen, and with their money drying up, he stumbles onto what seems like the only possible solution—robbing banks.
Written by a singularly talented, wildly imaginative debut novelist, Cherry is a bracingly funny and unexpectedly tender work of fiction straight from the dark heart of America.
The Russo brothers are now fine-tuning Avengers 4, out May 3, 2019.
