In the world of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, firemen don't put out blazes, they start them, and anyone who reads books is at risk of having their lives consumed in flames. With her latest movie, The Mummy, hitting the big screen this weekend, Sofia Boutella looks to continue her string of scene-stealing roles by coming aboard HBO's Fahrenheit 451 film.

Multiple sources, including THR, reveal that Boutella is joining Michael B. Jordan (Creed, Chronicle) and Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals, Bug) in HBO's Fahrenheit 451 film, which will be directed Ramin Bahrani (99 Homes). According to THR, Boutella will play "Clarisse, an informant caught between the competing interests of Montag and Beatty."

Shannon is set to play Captain Beatty, Montag's superior and mentor at the firehouse, while Jordan will executive produce and play the rebellious young fireman Guy Montag. Also executive producing the project are Sarah Green, Alan Gasmer, Peter Jaysen, and Bahrani, with avid Coatsworth on board as a producer as well.

In addition to starring opposite Tom Cruise as the vengeful Ahmanet in The Mummy, Boutella can soon be seen at the cinema this summer as Delphine in Atomic Blonde.

Essential reading that is just as important now as it was when it was originally published in 1953, Fahrenheit 451 is Bradbury at his most thought-provoking, and it should be interesting to see his timeless story come to life on screen once again (it was previously adapted in a 1966 film of the same name), especially the mechanical hound with a wicked tranquilizer that comes out of its snout.

For those who aren't familiar, we have the official synopsis (via Simon & Schuster) for Fahrenheit 451, and be sure to stay tuned to Daily Dead for more updates on the new adaptation:

"Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden.

Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television.

When Mildred attempts suicide and Clarisse suddenly disappears, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known. He starts hiding books in his home, and when his pilfering is discovered, the fireman has to run for his life."

Cover art from Simon & Schuster:

  • Derek Anderson
    About the Author - Derek Anderson

    Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.

    When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.