Jaume Collet-Serra To Direct Mark Boal Scripted Waco
Mark Boal continues to mine drama out of true-life events with the announcement that he’ll be producing and co-writing a drama based on the tragic events in a small town in Texas in 1993. The result is a script called Waco, which has The Shallows' Jaume Collet-Serra to direct for Annapurna Pictures.
Boal co-wrote the screenplay with Marc Haimes (Kubo And The Two Strings), which follows a breakaway sect from the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which was classified as a threat by the US federal government and law enforcement agencies as a dangerous threat. After the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and explosives attempted to conduct a search, a clash resulted in a raid that ended with four agents and six of the sect dead. That was just the start of the tragedy, though, as it kicked off a 51-day stand-off that ended when the FBI raided the compound. A huge fire led to 76 deaths.
Speaking to Deadline Boal said: “Waco was a turning point in history in the battle between the FBI and the far right in America. It is a collision between a militant faction, the Second Amendment, and the right to religious freedom. Many said this cult was not bothering anyone; this is about what the FBI and Justice Department perceived as a threat, and why, and how the FBI came in and crushed it."
He also added the reason why Collet-Serra got the job: "Jaume is a filmmaker who has proven himself to have a strong connection to mainstream audiences," Boal says. "His work also shows a high level of artistic ambition, and this is an opportunity to combine those elements in telling a story that started in a small Texas town and reached up to the highest levels of government."
Waco is due to go before cameras later in the year.
