Danny Boyle Can’t Quit You, Mumbai

Yup, the Indian city has its hooks in the Oscar-winning director of “Slumdog Millionaire,” and it isn’t letting go. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Boyle has bought the film rights to Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found, Suketu Mehta’s Pulitzer-nominated travelogue about Mumbai’s seedy, sometimes-violent subcultures: dirty cops, exotic dancers, religious hitmen and more.

I can’t say I’m surprised to hear that Boyle will be taking his cameras back to Mumbai for another round. He certainly isn’t the first traveler to get hooked on India’s potent colors, smells, flavors and sounds—it’s been nearly five years since I visited, and the memories from that trip remain among my most vivid.

But is it unusual for a director to return immediately to the landscape of his most successful film, using completely new source material? Well, maybe. “Maximum City” apparently served as one of Boyle’s key references during the making of “Slumdog”—he has referred to it as his Bible—so in a way, the move is probably a logical completion to the process.

Regardless of his motives for taking on this new project, I loved the world Boyle created in “Slumdog Millionaire,” and I’d happily see him tackle Mumbai’s sensory overload again. If you’re curious about “Maximum City,” Random House has an excerpt.

Anyone already read it? What do you think, is Danny Boyle the right guy for the adaptation? (Via Get the Big Picture)

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