Paul Greengrass Aims To Make Hollywood's True '1984' Adaptation

For such an influential and powerful novel, Hollywood has always struggled to get on with George Orwell's dystopian tale, Nineteen Eighty-Four. The eighties version with John Hurt as Winston Smith and Richard Burton as O'Brien was solid, though considering its cast, should have been better.

Paul Greengrass and Scott Rudin previously worked on last year's awards hit, Captain Phillips

Now, on the back of a slew of dystopian successes, British director Paul Greengrass believes he can remake the classic story for a modern audience and is in the early stages of developing a new movie.

The book is set in a society of perpetual war, with propaganda, surveillance and mind control taken to new levels. The new and concept of Big Brother originates from the book and the eventual movie should take on a notable pertinence given the recent revelations concerning the NSA and Edward Snowden, who remains in exile in Russia for leaking classified information.

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Producer Scott Rubin, who worked with Greengrass on last year's excellent Captain Phillips, is also on-board for the movie.

The pair are currently working on Memphis, a biopic of Martin Luther King, and the fourth instalment of the popular Bourne franchise, which Matt Damon returning in the title role. The heavyweight duo are also said to be teaming up for Agent Storm, about the life of militant Islamist Morten Storm who became a double agent for the CIA.

1984 is being set up at Sony, with the screenwriter James Graham hired to work on the script. He is best known for writing the book for the upcoming musical adaption of Finding Neverland.

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