It's time a larger audience started to catch on to how good of a filmmaker Jim Mickle really is. He's been a darling of the indie scene for a few years now after a few low budget genre efforts like Stake Land, We Are What We Are, and last year's excellent Cold in July (which I interviewed him for). Now he's getting a shot at a much larger studio effort, taking the helm of Legendary Pictures' adaptation, Esperanza.
Based on John N. Maclean's book, The Esperanza Fire: Arson, Murder, and the Agony of Engine 57, the Sean O'Keefe-penned film tells the true story of the 2006 wildfire that was caused by arson and claimed the lives of five firefighters. It's safe to say this will be Mickle's biggest film from a budget standpoint, and it will be interesting to see how that affects his lean, gritty style of filmmaking. This could be the kind of project that makes him a household name and leads to other major films, just as we saw happen with Gareth Edwards after Godzilla.
Here's the official synopsis for Esperanza:
Set against the backdrop of one of the most fire-prone areas in the world, ESPERANZA is the true story of a Spartan culture of firefighters battling the ‘perfect storm’ of wildfires.
