Darren Aronofsky could be the next Steven Spielberg or James Cameron if he continues down this insane path of anti-Hollywood filmmaking. Only someone of his caliber can take something new and unique, and break it through the walls of Hollywood that is insistent on remaking films and sticking to their franchise guns. With his Oscar-worthy Black Swan transforming theaters this coming December, instead of taking the reigns on Superman, Aronofsky has instead opted to take the David Cronenberg route with Machine Man. Can I get a holy f*ck?
Darren Aronofsky is set to direct amped-up thriller “Machine Man'” for Mandalay Pictures, based on Max Barry’s serialized online story and upcoming tome.

In the pop thriller, a gadget geek and engineer working at a forward-thinking tech firm decides to systematically replace his weaker fleshy parts with high-end titanium performance upgrades of his own design. But he isn’t the only one with plans for his superior parts.

Mark Heyman is penning the adapted screenplay, collaborating with Aronofsky and Mandalay. Project reteams Heyman and Aronofsky, who worked on “Black Swan.”

Cathy Schulman will produce “Machine Man” for Mandalay. Barry will exec produce.

Mandalay secured the rights to Barry’s partial manuscript in November 2009. As part of an ongoing interactive literary experiment, Barry’s story is being crafted and published one page per day in real time as an online serial. It will be published as a novel by Vintage Books in Spring 2011.

Aronofsky is currently prepping for the release of “Black Swan,” which Fox Searchlight opens Dec. 5. He was last in theaters with the critically acclaimed “The Wrestler.”