“Bombshell” writer Charles Randolph will tackle the coronavirus in an untitled “Wuhan Project” movie set and filmed on location in China, with SK Global both financing and producing, the company’s co-CEOs John Penotti and Charlie Corwin announced Saturday.
Randolph is currently writing the screenplay for the feature film, which will be his directorial debut. He plans to film the “Untitled Charles Randolph Wuhan Project” in China and other international locations with Chinese and international talent and crew.
The untitled film examines the dramatic weeks in China as the heroic medical community confronts a mysterious virus (not explicitly named COVID-19 in the release), soon to become a global pandemic. Randolph and SK Global will produce, and Margaret Riley will executive produce. Xian Li is the executive in charge of development and on the ground production for SK Global.
“Charles takes us through an electrifying and revealing drama all of us are living through. His vivid storytelling and insights are at the heart of this narrative. We couldn’t be more pleased to support his vision and directorial debut,” Penotti and Corwin said in a statement.
“I’m very happy to be working with everyone at SK Global to get this right. The deeper we dig, the richer the story of Wuhan becomes. It’s one thing to fight a monster. It’s another thing to fight a monster in the dark,” Randolph said.
Randolph is the writer of last year’s “Bombshell,” which took on the Roger Ailes scandal at Fox News and was nominated for three Oscars and grossed $59.6 million at the worldwide box office. He, along with Adam McKay, won the Academy Award for Best Writing Adapted Screenplay for co-writing 2015’s “The Big Short.” It was recently announced that he’d be writing a screenplay on the WeWork CEO Adam Neumann for Universal and Blumhouse.
The deal was negotiated on behalf of SK Global by Brian Kornreich, Head of Business & Legal Affairs. Randolph is repped by CAA, Lighthouse Management & Media and Paul Hastings.