Brad Pitt To Produce Book Adaptation About Man-Eating Tiger

“The Tiger” is reportedly a very riveting account of the true story of a man-eater, that captured the attention of quite a few talents in showbiz. Previously, “Black Swan” director Darren Aronofsky was attached, but he had to drop out. He will still be producing however, along with Brad Pitt, who likes taking on book adaptations. According to Deadline, the project has found a new director in Belgian Michael R. Roskam, whose film “Bullhead” earned widespread critical acclaim last year. The screenplay will be adapted by Guillermo Arriaga (“Babel”). Sounds like the project’s off to a very promising start.

The book itself, written by John Vaillant, is described like this:

“It’s December 1997, and a man-eating tiger is on the prowl outside a remote village in Russia’s Far East. The tiger isn’t just killing people, it’s annihilating them, and a team of men and their dogs must hunt it on foot through the forest in the brutal cold. As the trackers sift through the gruesome remains of the victims, they discover that these attacks aren’t random: the tiger is apparently engaged in a vendetta. Injured, starving, and extremely dangerous, the tiger must be found before it strikes again.

As he re-creates these extraordinary events, John Vaillant gives us an unforgettable portrait of this spectacularly beautiful and mysterious region. We meet the native tribes who for centuries have worshipped and lived alongside tigers, even sharing their kills with them. We witness the arrival of Russian settlers in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, soldiers and hunters who greatly diminished the tiger populations. And we come to know their descendants, who, crushed by poverty, have turned to poaching and further upset the natural balance of the region.

This ancient, tenuous relationship between man and predator is at the very heart of this remarkable book. Throughout we encounter surprising theories of how humans and tigers may have evolved to coexist, how we may have developed as scavengers rather than hunters, and how early Homo sapiens may have fit seamlessly into the tiger’s ecosystem. Above all, we come to understand the endangered Siberian tiger, a highly intelligent super-predator that can grow to ten feet long, weigh more than six hundred pounds, and range daily over vast territories of forest and mountain.

Beautifully written and deeply informative, The Tiger circles around three main characters: Vladimir Markov, a poacher killed by the tiger; Yuri Trush, the lead tracker; and the tiger himself. It is an absolutely gripping tale of man and nature that leads inexorably to a final showdown in a clearing deep in the taiga.”

Kind of reminds me of “The Ghost And The Darkness”, which was also based on a true story. More details as we get em…