Doug Liman, right, directs Tom Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow. He may next helm the YA adaptation Chaos Walking. Image: Warner Bros.

When someone mentions “young adult” lit or movies, immediately the mind thinks of Twilight, The Hunger Games, and Divergent. But Chaos Walking is a bit different. Though it also has a high-concept genre story, it was going to be adapted by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Robert Zemeckis. Now, a new director is on board.


According to The Hollywood Reporter, director Doug Liman (Swingers, Edge of Tomorrow) is in talks to take over the project, with a new draft written by Jamie Linden (Money Monster). Admittedly, Liman and Linden is a less exciting combo than Zemeckis and Kaufman but the names certainly pique interest.

Written by Patrick Ness, Chaos Walking is a trilogy of books about “a world where there are no women and all living creatures can hear one another’s thoughts in a stream of images, words and sounds called Noise.”


Liman is finishing a drug film called Mena with Tom Cruise and has several other projects, including the Marvel adaptation Gambit, also on his plate; there’s also a planned Edge of Tomorrow sequel, though that’s still very early in development. According to article, the hope is for Chaos Walking to shoot before any of that, in the fall.

[Hollywood Reporter]