Cherry, a biographical chronicle of the PTSD and addiction-afflicted life of its author, Army vet Nico Walker, was the centre of a serious bidding war among studios for the movie rights. It was one that ultimately saw AGBO – the upstart company of esteemed Marvel mega-movie directors Joe and Anthony Russo – offer $1 million to buy it outright.
And now, it appears that the Russos are not only set to direct, but they’re eyeing Spider-Man himself, Tom Holland, to star, according to Variety. The film will serve as the first non-Marvel follow-up from the Russos after the colossally culminative events of April’s Avengers: Endgame – but, with Holland on board, they’ll be bringing one of their key MCU players with them.
The Russos will be working off a script, adapted from Walker’s book, by Jessica Goldberg, the creator/executive-producer/writer of Hulu’s The Path. Last August, the siblings acquired the film rights through their AGBO company barely over a week after the book was first released.
The acclaimed book chronicles Walker’s experiences, starting as a college freshman in Cleveland whose romantic woes lead him to join the Army as a medic in 2005 – during the height of the Iraq War – in which he served until 2006. Consequently, his experiences on over 200 combat missions leave him with a serious (and tragically undiagnosed) case of PTSD, leading him down a road of addiction to opioids, notably heroin.
It’s an addiction that doesn’t leave him upon his return to civilian life, resulting in desperate attempts to replenish funds as a bank robber. After hitting 10 banks in the Cleveland area, Walker was arrested in April 2011, which led to a guilty plea in 2012 for which he received an 11-year sentence. However, the incarcerated Walker would become the focus of a Buzzfeed article about his tragic story, which led to him connecting with a publisher.
For prospective star Tom Holland, Cherry joins a bountiful backlog that notably includes more runs as Spider-Man – next in Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far from Home – as well as a prospective post-apocalyptic film franchise in Doug Liman’s Chaos Walking, in which he stars opposite Star Wars‘ Daisy Ridley. Sometime after that, he’s also set to manifest as the one and only Nathan Drake, starring in the live-action film adaptation of the popular video game series, Uncharted.
Cherry directors Joe and Anthony Russo – already lauded for previous Marvel efforts Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War – currently reside in the stratosphere of the industry for their work on last year’s Avengers: Infinity War, which earned over $2 billion worldwide. April’s follow-up, Avengers: Endgame, is in a very good position to surpass its predecessor. Consequently, the Russos’ presence on Cherry immediately gives the project major weight, prospectively serving as the siblings’ attempt at awards season adulation.
We’ll keep you updated on Cherry as things develop.