EXCLUSIVE: HBO Max Films has snapped up the spec script Black Choke written by Doug Simon with Lawrence Michael Levine set to direct.
The script is billed as a neo-noir about a bank robbery gone wrong.
Tracey Nyberg, Michael Costigan and Jason Bateman of Aggregate Films are attached to produce.
Verve
Simon is currently writing Frost & Fire based on the Ray Bradbury short story of the same name, for Thunder Road Pictures. His original spec script Breathe is also set up at Thunder Road, and has Stefon Bristol (See You Yesterday) attached to direct, and was featured on the 2019 Black List.
Levine directed and wrote the Aubrey Plaza drama Black Bear which made its world premiere at Sundance 2020 and notched an 89% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. He also directed, wrote and starred in the 2014 feature Wild Canaries which made its world premiere at SXSW.
Simon is repped by Verve, Writ Large and Morris Yorn Barnes Levine Krintzman Rubenstein Kohner & Gellman.
Levine is repped by Gersh, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, and MARKS Law group.
Earlier today during AT&T’s 2Q earnings call, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar said Warner Bros. would produce ten movies for HBO Max in 2022. That’s not new news: Back in February 2020, Warner Bros announced that they would make eight-to-ten mid budget movies for the streaming service annually.
Some of the more exclusive HBO Max movies to debut strictly on the streaming service since its launch include Steven Soderbergh’s crime pic No Sudden Move and Doug Liman’s Anne Hathaway-Chiwetel Ejiofor caper Locked Down.
