During this age of tightly-wound tensions between civilians and law enforcement more and more films are coming out depicting times when it seemed those who are there to protect us are actually doing more harm than good. One of those cases was in the famous Waco, Texas incident, a national tragedy that swept the headlines, and will now be turned into a feature-length movie.
Deadline got the scoop that a film version of the incident involving the standoff between the FBI and Texas state law against the Branch Davidians in 1993 will be written by ZERO DARK THIRTY scribe Mark Boal and Marc Haimes of KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS, and will be directed by THE SHALLOWS’ Jaume Collet-Serra. The director’s name was also at one point attached to SUICIDE SQUAD 2, but WACO intends to start shooting later this year, and could make taking on the comic book blockbuster too difficult to manage. Boal will produce too, and also wrote and produced DETROIT (with Kathryn Bigelow directing) aboout the Detroit riots of 1967 which is set for August 4.
Boal spoke very highly of Collet-Serra (whose credits also include NON-STOP and ORPHAN), calling him an “unsung hitmaker” who is ready to take on period dramas:
Jaume is a filmmaker who has proven himself to have a strong connection to mainstream audiences. 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.
He also discussed how telling the story of Waco relates to the current climate between citizens and law enforcement, as well as the fight for Second Amendment rights:
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.
The Davidians, a sect broken from Seventh-day Adventist Church led by David Koresh, were considered a cult by the FBI who also believed the group was stockpiling weapons. After an attempted raid left four FBI agents and six Davidians dead, the standoff began and lasted 51 days. In the end the FBI raided their compound to force them out, ensuing in a fire fight. The result was 76 people dead and the Davidians’ compound was engulfed in flames.
DETROIT is another film to highlight the conflict that exists between citizens and the law, and though this is a heated political issue it makes for undeniably gripping cinema. There’s a lot of tension to wring out of such scenarios, especially ones as famous and chaotic as Waco. Frankly, I’d rather Serra direct this than SS2, and it will give him more creative space to do something totally different from his usually work and expand his talent.
DETROIT is out August 4.