Though Child 44 was an absolute train-wreck, director Daniel Espinosa is moving forward, undaunted, with another period pic. This time, he’s aiming high with an adaptation of Vilhelm Moberg’s novel The Emigrants, last adapted in 1971 to the tune of four Oscar nominations.
Maybe this will be the project that finally cements Espinosa, who broke out with Easy Money but followed it up with two major disappointments (generic thriller Safe House and Child 44, which was honestly less likable than a Soviet winter), as a noteworthy talent, though if The Emigrants is a success, Hollywood can’t take credit – the helmer is setting this pic up overseas.
The Emigrants tells the epic tale of a married Swedish couple who immigrate to the United States in the 1850s, hoping to find a better life and escape the poverty and persecution present in their native country. Braving a tumultuous voyage across the ocean and a hazardous trek across foreign landscape, the pair face hardship after hardship in their struggle to carve out new lives for themselves.
Petter Skavlan (Kon-Tiki) is currently penning the script, and production has been pencilled in for 2017 to accommodate Espinosa’s busy schedule and give Svensk Filindustri (the Scandinavian film company pressing forward with the remake) time to cast the pic. It’s currently unclear what the helmer will tackle first, as he’s been linked to John Grisham adaptation The Racketeer, Jo Nesbø adaptation Blood on Snow, Boston Marathon bombing drama Boston Strong and Warner Bros.’ top-secret sci-fi project Morningstar.
It’s also entirely possible that Espinosa, likely exhausted from trying and failing to pull together Child 44 in post-production, could cool his heels until it’s time to roll cameras on The Emigrants, committing himself to making sure this next directorial venture is more successful than his last.