Universal Pictures has pre-emptively landed an adaptation of Mark A. Bradley’s “Blood Runs Coal: The Yablonski Murders and the Battle for the United Mine Workers of America,” with newly-minted Oscar winner Cillian Murphy attached to star and produce.
Jez Butterworth (“Spectre,” “Ford v Ferrari”) and John-Henry Butterworth (“Get On Up,” “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”) will adapt the screenplay. They previously collaborated on “Edge of Tomorrow.”
John Davis and Jordan Davis will produce through Davis Entertainment, while Murphy and Alan Moloney will produce through Big Things Films. Mark A. Bradley will executive produce. Universal’s Lexi Barta, who was recently elevated to senior vice president of production, will oversee the project for the studio.
“Blood Runs Coal” takes place in the late 1960s in Pennsylvania’s coal mines, chronicling a shocking assassination that altered the history of American labor unions.
Murphy’s credits include films such as “Oppenheimer,” “The Dark Knight,” “Red Eye, “Dunkirk” and “A Quiet Place Part II,” while he’s best-known on television as Tommy Shelby, the Birmingham gangster at the heart of “Peaky Blinders.” He’s keeping busy following his recent Academy Award win, with upcoming projects including historical drama “Small Things Like These,” Netflix’s “Steve” and a highly-anticipated “Peaky Blinders” film. He’s also set to executive produce “28 Years Later,” which will likely see him reprise his role from “28 Days Later.”
Murphy is repped by CAA, Lou Coulson Associates, David Weber/Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern. Jez and John-Henry Butterworth are represented by CAA and Alan Wertheimer at Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner Auerbach Hynick Jaime LeVine Sample & Klein.
Deadline was first to report the news.
