Ridley Scott is in early negotiations to come aboard and direct "The Prisoner", the screen version of the 1968 Patrick McGoohan British TV series.
This has been a plum project at Universal for some time with numerous A-list scribes including Christopher McQuarrie writing drafts, reported Deadline.
The most recent version was by "The Departed" scribe William Monahan. The film is being produced by Bluegrass Films Scott Stuber and Dylan Clark.
Numerous writers are circling to do that, and the elbowing by several top actors has also begun.
"The Prisoner" is a former government agent who abruptly resigns from his job and finds himself imprisoned in an idyllic yet bizarre seaside village isolated from the world by the sea and mountains.
He can't escape because he knows too much, but that doesn't stop others trying to capture him for his knowledge.
