There have been more than a few attempts to get the story ofRoss William Ulbrichton screen over the last few years. A few of those have been successful, especially the Epix seriesDeep Web, which was narrated byKeanu Reevesand directed byAlex WinterofBill & Ted’s Excellent Adventurefame. Most of them, however, have essentially just curdled into a wildly biased harangue against the age of the internet and generations of young people who have grown up with the utility. And yes, of course, internet addiction exists and has ruined plenty of lives, but most of these movies give 90% of their focus to the negatives and only a fleeting, shrug-worthy mention of the frankly unfathomable positives that the world wide web has given us over the decades.
It’s hard to tell if that will be the case withJoelandEthan Coenwhen they step up to the plate to ponder the internet and its aftermath.Variety reportstoday that the filmmaking duo, who have produced some of the best American films of the last three or four decades, will next be taking on a screenplay forDark Web, which would track Ulbricht’s life and his creation of the vast online marketplace known as “The Silk Road.” For those not aware, Ulbricht’s Silk Road was buried deep in the internet, a place referred to as the “dark web,” where users can trade anything from body parts and weapons to drugs and outre pornography.
Crime authorDennis Lehanedid the first pass at the script in 2013 and this movie has been bouncing around between studios and producers since then. It’s still unclear who will direct the movie but with the Coens now on scripting duties, interest in the project, which is set up at 20th Century Fox, will no doubt rise immediately. Just last year, their script forBridge of Spiesled to one ofSteven Spielberg’s best films in a long while, but that had the benefit of totally digested history. Whether or not their wit will survive in a modern-day context, away from their own invented stylistic worlds, is a question I’m impatient to see answered but with the reputations the Coens have at this point, there’s little doubtDark Webwill be one of the biggest events of whatever year in which it actually gets released.
