Nov 7, 2019

Spider-Verse co-director Peter Ramsey directed his first live-action film, Love In Vain

Peter Ramsey, co-director of Sony Picture Animation's Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, is moving into live action. He will direct Love in Vain, a biopic of blues legend Robert Johnson, for Paramount, according to Deadline.

Or rather, he's moving back into live action. Ramsey began his career as a storyboard artist for live-action feature films, including Bram Stoker's Dracula, Boyz n the Hood, Minority Report, Being John Malkovich, Fight Club, and Ang Lee's Hulk. He worked on others, including the 1998 version of Godzilla, as a second-unit director. But Love in Vain will be his first as helmer.

Ramsey also directed Dreamworks's Rise of the Guardians (2012), in the process becoming the first African-American to helm a tentpole cg animation feature for a major studio. As one of the three directors of last year's Spider-Verse, he also became the first African-American to win an Oscar for best animated feature.

Johnson was a pioneering musician in his time, and has remained something of an enigma since his mysterious death at 27. The screenplay for Love in Vain comes from Krystin Ver Linden, who previously assisted on films by Quentin Tarantino, and is now writing and directing the slavery drama Alice.

The producers of Love in Vain are Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mike Menchel, and Lionel Richie.