'Blood Meridian' may soon hit big screen

[United Press International]

LOS ANGELES, May 10 (UPI) -- "Blood Meridian," a dark
western considered one of the best U.S. 20th century novels, finally
may become a feature film after being in the works for years.
William Monahan is in negotiations to adapt Cormac
McCarthy's novel to a screenplay for Paramount Pictures, said
Monday's Hollywood Reporter, in the next chapter of a long road to
the big screen for the novel.
Ridley Scott has been asked to direct the project, though no
formal offer has been made, the Reporter said.
Before the current plans, Tommy Lee Jones was set to direct,
rewrite the screenplay and star in a small role of the film for
Columbia Pictures in the late 1990s.
"Blood Meridian," published in 1985, is set in the 1840s on
the Texas-Mexico border and features a young boy who falls in with a
gang of outlaws employed by the territorial governors to clear
Indians from the Mexican border area.
McCarthy also wrote the "Border" trilogy, with the first
work, "All the Pretty Horses," made into a film by Columbia and
Miramax.