We’re still waiting on the official word that Darren Aronofsky will direct Wolverine 2 (Hugh Jackman has been talking about it like it’s a done deal), but in the meantime Darren Aronofsky has announced his involvement in another new project that sounds pretty awesome. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he will develop and direct Machine Man, a “cybernetic thriller” based on the upcoming book by Max Barry. Mandalay picked up the rights last year before the book had even been completed; Barry had been writing it as a serialized novel with a new page posted online every day. The story revolves around a depressed engineer who wants something more out of life and decides to start replacing his body parts with cybernetic upgrades.

Aronofsky will adapt the screenplay with his Black Swan co-writer Mark Heyman, and if all goes according to plan, this will be his next project after Wolverine 2. Personally, I couldn’t be more excited. I was a big fan of Barry’s book Jennifer Government and I followed along with this book online for a while (until I had to pay… what a cheapskate!). Although the tone is a little more serious than some of Barry’s other books, there is still a bit of dark humour underneath it all. It will be interesting to see if Aronofsky embraces this or if he simply goes full-on thriller / character study. Either way, it’s kind of like we’re still getting Aronofsky’s Robocop after all. Machine Man will be published by Vintage Books next Spring.