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. For over a year, a Fahrenheit 451 movie has been in the works at HBO, and now its core cast is starting to come together.

According to multiple sources, including Variety, Michael B. Jordan (Creed, Chronicle) and Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals, Bug) are set to star in HBO's Fahrenheit 451 film, which will be directed Ramin Bahrani, who previously worked with Shannon on 99 Homes. Bahrani will also co-write the adaptation with Amir Naderi, while Shannon is set to play Captain Beatty, Montag's superior and mentor at the firehouse.

In addition to starring as the movie's protagonist, Montag (known as Guy Montag in the novel), a "young fireman who forsakes his world, battles his mentor and struggles to regain his humanity," Jordan will executive produce the film alongside Sarah Green, Alan Gasmer, Peter Jaysen, and Bahrani. David Coatsworth is also on board as a producer.

The film is still in the early stages of development, according to Variety, but is reportedly nearing a solid production status at HBO.

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."

Michael B. Jordan in Creed:

Michael Shannon in 99 Homes:

Source: Variety
  • 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.