Heart of the Beast: David Ayer is set to direct Navy SEAL film that will be produced by Damien Chazelle

David Ayer returns to a military-themed film that is part of a first-look deal that Damien Chazelle has with Paramount Pictures.

David Ayer recently turned heads with The Beekeeper, a seemingly run-of-the-mill Jason Statham action film that turned out to be a strange mish-mash of ideas and bold choices that still feels like a fever dream. Ayer has had some hits under his belt, but as a whole, the filmmaker’s resume has some divisive receptions among them. This brings us to the interesting partnering with the Whiplash, La La Land and Babylon director Damien Chazelle. As Chazelle attempts to recover from Babylon‘s flopping, the First Man director will only be producing the new film that Ayer will helm.

Deadline reports that Ayer will be directing Heart of the Beast. The film will come from Chazelle and spouse Olivia Hamilton’s company, Wild Chicken Productions, as part of their first look deal with Paramount. Ayer and Chris Long will also produce alongside under their Cedar Park Entertainment banner. The screenplay comes from scribe Cameron Alexander, who will also be on board as an executive producer. Richard Raymond will be co-producing the film. According to Deadline, “The story follows a former Navy SEAL and his retired combat dog who attempt to return to civilization after a catastrophic accident deep in the Alaskan wilderness.”

Chazelle is a proven talent. However, his films have not exactly lit up the box office and the filmmaker has been weary of how he will get funding after Babylon failed to meet expectations. Recently, he stated, “I’ve been head in the sand. I’ve been sort of busy writing. So I’ll get a real taste of how it’s changed or not [since Babylon] once I get to finish this script and try to actually get it made. I’m in a sort of trepidatious state of mind, but I have no illusions. I won’t get a budget of Babylon size any time soon, or at least not on this next one.”

He continued, “Certainly, in financial terms, Babylon didn’t work at all…You try to not have that effect [on] what you’re doing creatively, but, at some level, it can’t help but affect it. But maybe that’s OK? I have a very mixed mind about it. Who knows. Maybe I won’t be able to get this one made. I have no idea. We’ll have to wait and see.”

About the Author

E.J. is a News Editor at JoBlo, as well as a Video Editor, Writer, and Narrator for some of the movie retrospectives on our JoBlo Originals YouTube channel, including Reel Action, Revisited and some of the Top 10 lists. He is a graduate of the film program at Missouri Western State University with concentrations in performance, writing, editing and directing.