Ironically, ‘Road to Perdition’ was just on TNT the other night. Loved it when it came out in 2002 and my high hopes that it would receive the Academy Award for Best Picture never came to fruition. With director Sam Mendes coming off an Oscar win with ‘American Beauty’, ’Road’ looked to be a shoo-in. It did receive 6 nominations, but only saw one posthumous win for Best Cinematography for the late Conrad L. Hall - a genius behind the camera. Ultimately, the Oscar for Best Picture went to ‘Chicago’. On an Oscar-geek side note, the 75th Academy Awards was one of the most exciting too - Adrien Brody’s shocking win for ‘The Pianist’ and then planting a wet one on a surprised Halle Berry, Nicole Kidman and all of Hollywood finally giving Tom Cruise the middle finger with her win for ‘The Hours’, and lastly the controversial Best Director win for Roman Polanski with his riveting ‘The Pianist’.

And now I see over at Variety, a sequel to ‘Perdition’ is in the works.

The road has been cleared for a sequel to Tom Hanks-Paul Newman starrer “Road to Perdition.”
The 2002 pic was based on the graphic novel by Max Allan Collins, who continued the story in follow-ups “Road to Purgatory” and “Road to Paradise.” Collins will adapt and direct “Purgatory” for his and Jeffrey B. Mallian’s JBM Prods. and Joel Eisenberg’s EMO Films.

The $20 million indie pic is being shopped at the American Film Market. Project got the go-ahead in August, when DreamWorks-Paramount waived the right to produce the sequel. DreamWorks released the original “Perdition.” As with other DreamWorks titles, “Perdition” came under the Par banner when the studio bought DreamWorks.

“Purgatory” will follow the character of Michael Sullivan Jr. — the son in “Perdition” — as he returns home from WWII and vows to avenge the murder of his father. He is ultimately led to Frank Nitti, whom he is urged to kill on the orders of Al Capone. “Road to Purgatory” will be dedicated to Newman.

Source: Variety