'The Help' Director Tate Taylor To Helm Big Screen Redo Of Brit Miniseries 'The Jury'

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by Benjamin Wright
April 25, 2012 10:22 AM
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Typically when your most recent film racks up a couple of Oscar nominations and an outstanding box office take, studios have their hands out practically begging you to bring your dream project to their doorsteps. Helmer Tate Taylor hasn’t exactly followed that path after his success with 2011’s “The Help,” even after the multiple awards which included Octavia Spencer’s win at the Oscars for Best Supporting Actress. Taylor has been slow to line up his next directorial effort, passing on longtime friend and actress Melissa McCarthy’s R-rated road trip comedy “Tammy,” with brief word back in August that Taylor was in early talks to direct an adaptation of the 2002 novel "Peace Like A River" for DreamWorks and Warner Brothers.

But another project has come on the horizon with Deadline reporting that Taylor is in talks to write and direct the Fox 2000 project “The Jury.” The film is an adaptation of the popular Granada-produced, 2000 British miniseries that delved into the lives of jurors who are moving towards a verdict on a case that centers around a young Sikh student charged with murdering a spiteful class bully. The series featured Gerard Butler and Mark Strong in early, prominent roles, but no word on who Fox or Tate would have in mind for this one.

Once a project for “Monster’s Ball” helmer Marc Forster as director with “The Ides of March” scribe Beau Willimon on writing duties, it never took off with both moving on to other things. The subject matter is certainly potent and volatile in today’s political climate; we just hope Taylor can approach the race issues here with a little more subtlety than he did in “The Help.”

No word yet on an expected production start, or if it will come before or after “Peace Like A River,” so we’ll have to wait and see.