Well-known screenwriter James Vanderbilt is looking to branch out into directing with some seriously dark subject matter. The writer known for working on scripts for films such as David Fincher’s serial killer pic “Zodiac,” the military thriller “Basic,” and the last two “Scream” movies is setting his sights on World War II and the subsequent Nuremberg Trials. Specifically, focusing on convicted Nazi war criminal Hermann Göring. Back in 2012, Vanderbilt and Laeta Kalogridis (“Shutter Island,” “Alita: Battle Angel,” “Avatar”) landed the rights to the non-fiction novel “The Nazi & The Psychiatrist: Hermann Göring, Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, & A Fatal Meeting of Minds At The End of WWII” by author Jack El-Hai with plans to turn the material into a feature film. It explores the complex relationship between American psychiatrist Dr. Douglas M. Kelley and the Nazi war criminal and Hitler’s right-hand man (Based on Kelley’s own personal notes from the Nuremberg era which had been hidden for years by his family).

Oscar-winner Russell Crowe (“Gladiator“) revealed over the summer at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival that he had been tapped to play Göring in “Nuremberg” and was expected to be his next project.

There is a minor update The Ronin can share as the project has landed a cinematographer, Dariusz Wolski, a familiar name to most. Wolski is likely mostly known these days for his lengthy string of collaborations with filmmaker Ridley Scott including “Prometheus,” “Napoleon,” “House of Gucci,” “The Last Duel,” “Alien: Covenant,” “Exodus: Gods & Kings,” “The Martian,” and “The Counselor.” Some of his other work consists of the Brandon Lee comic book flick “The Crow,” three installments of Disney’s “Pirates of The Caribbean” films, and the underrated Aussie sci-fi thriller “Dark City.”

Below are some examples of Wolski’s recent feature work.

Here is the novel’s official synopsis via Amazon which should give you a pretty good idea of where the film is going:

In 1945, after his capture at the end of the Second World War, Hermann Göring arrived at an American-run detention center in war-torn Luxembourg, accompanied by sixteen suitcases and a red hatbox. The suitcases contained all manner of paraphernalia: medals, gems, two cigar cutters, silk underwear, a hot water bottle, and the equivalent of 1 million in cash. Hidden in a coffee can, a set of brass vials housed glass capsules containing a clear liquid and a white precipitate: potassium cyanide. Joining Göring in the detention center were the elite of the captured Nazi regime—Grand Admiral Dönitz; armed forces commander Wilhelm Keitel and his deputy Alfred Jodl; the mentally unstable Robert Ley; the suicidal Hans Frank; the pornographic propagandist Julius Streicher—fifty-two senior Nazis in all, of whom the dominant figure was Göring. To ensure that the villainous captives were fit for trial at Nuremberg, the US Army sent an ambitious army psychiatrist, Captain Douglas M. Kelley, to supervise their mental well-being during their detention. Kelley realized he was being offered the professional opportunity of a lifetime: to discover a distinguishing trait among these arch-criminals that would mark them as psychologically different from the rest of humanity. So began a remarkable relationship between Kelley and his captors, told here for the first time with unique access to Kelley’s long-hidden papers and medical records. Kelley’s was a hazardous quest, dangerous because against all his expectations he began to appreciate and understand some of the Nazi captives, none more so than the former Reichsmarshall, Hermann Göring. Evil had its charms.

However, with all this said it’s unclear when exactly production would begin as the Hollywood strikes likely mean it won’t be happening anytime soon. Hopefully, the AMPTP will come to their senses and make a fair deal with the writers/actors.