Ramin Bahrani To Direct Ray Bradbury's 'Fahreinheit 451' For HBO

Ramin Bahrani is what I like to call a "thinking man's director". He makes movies that are perfectly of the moment, turning emotionally and politically charged issues into thought-provoking dramas like last year's underrated 99 Homes. So it's interesting that a filmmaker who is so of his time is now taking on Ray Bradbury's classic Fahreinheit 451, a story that was well ahead of its time when first published.

The Wrap confirms Bahrani will adapt and direct Fahreinheit 451 for HBO, which seems like the perfect home for this kind of material. Bradbury's dystopian novel was first published in 1953 and takes place in a future dominated by television and where literature is a rare and very dangerous thing. Guy Montag is a fireman whose job isn't to put out fires, but to start fires burning books, which have been deemed illegal. For much of his life he does this job without question, until his conscience gets the better of him. 

Bradbury's story has been adapted many times before, including Francois Truffaut's 1966 film. There's a reason it has resonated all of this time, and in today's politicized society where lawmakers are literally altering history books and outright banning others, perhaps Bahrani is exactly the right guy for this project.