Jordan to direct 'The Return'
Pic tells story of Odysseus's homecoming
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After a fruitless struggle to raise financing for his $55 million epic "Borgia," he is now attached to direct "The Return," about the homecoming of Odysseus to his island kingdom of Ithaca after the Trojan War.
The original screenplay was by English playwright Edward Bond, but has been substantially rewritten by Jordan. Producer is Uberto Pasolini, best known for "The Full Monty." Financing is set to come from Michael Kuhn, via his German production fund and his distribution deal with 20th Century Fox for North America and selected foreign territories.
When Odysseus, disguised as a beggar, comes back home, 20 years after he left for Troy, he finds his faithful wife Penelope besieged by suitors, who all believe he is dead. Mentally and physically scarred by his long ordeal, he suffers a period of agonized self-doubt before he reveals his true identity and slaughters the suitors, with the help of his son Telemachus.
The producers are currently casting, in the hope of starting principal photography by May.
If "The Return" does get off the ground, it will be Jordan's first film since "We're No Angels" in 1989 not to be produced by Stephen Woolley, and the first ever to be based on an original screenplay not written by himself.
Jordan and Woolley are still teamed in their production shingle Company of Wolves, which has two pics due for release later this year -- Conor McPherson's "The Actors" and John Crowley's "Intermission." Woolley is still trying to set up "Borgia" for 2004.
"The Return" is first film script for 30 years by Bond, whose controversial and often violent stage work includes "Saved" and "The War Plays." His movie credits include "Blow Up" and "Walkabout."
