Bond scribes Purvis and Wade take on new international thriller

James Bond may be in hock, but that doesn’t mean screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade aren’t doing their usual globetrotting, reports THR.

The “Quantum of Solace” and “Casino Royale” co-writers have been hired by Parkes MacDonald/Imagenation to pen an original action thriller based on a concept from Michael Lieber and Walter Parkes. Parkes, Lieber and Laurie MacDonald are producing the project.

The story takes place among the nomadic Taureg tribes of West Africa, an area rich with uranium that has become a focal point for both energy companies and terrorist states. An American anthropologist is thrust into this geopolitical mess when he must travel back to the Sahara to help a former research subject who has been accused of a terrorist attack.

“At its heart, this is an action movie set within a world that is morally complex, alluring and completely real -- which is why Robert and Neal, whose work spans James Bond to John Le Carre, are uniquely suited to bring a project like this to life,” said Parkes.

Parkes/MacDonald Prods. exec Marc Resteghini is overseeing the film for the company.

Repped by UTA and Casarotto Ramsay & Associates in the U.K., Purvis and Wade have an adaptation of John Le Carre’s “The Mission Song” with Potboiler Prods. and their screenplay “Corsica ’72” is set up with Ruby Films.

Parkes MacDonald / Imagenation is also developing a remake of Graham Greene’s “The Fallen Idol,” being written by David Farr, as well as the features “Earthbound,” “The Museum of SuperNatural History” and “Eat, Sleep, Poop: A Common Sense Guide to Your Baby’s First Year.”

A former cultural anthropologist and PhD, Lieber taught at Wellesley College and UCLA and did fieldwork in urban Trinidad before moving on to producing the films “Joe Gould’s Secret” and “Flash of Genius.”

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