Apparently, that is in fact the case.

Vulture has revealed that director Chris Nolan is looking to helm his long-talked about biopic based on the life of the iconic Howard Hughes. Nolan originally had plans to direct the project years ago, but when Martin Scorsese and his film, THE AVIATOR, beat him to the punch back in 2004, the film was shelved.

Based on the Micahel Drosnin penned biography entitled Citizen Hughes: The Power, The Money, and The Madness, the film will “cover many later events and quirks on which Scorsese’s movie punted: We'll meet the Howard Hughes who spent much of 1948 sitting naked in a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel with only a pink dinner napkin covering his genitals as he screened movies from his studio, RKO Pictures, and ran up an $11 million tab; the Hughes who — obsessed with food safety — once bought every franchise restaurant chain in his home state of Texas, and who was similarly so concerned about air quality that he installed an aircraft filtration system in his 1954 Chrysler New Yorker, taking up its entire trunk; the Howard Hughes who had his hair cut and nails trimmed only once a year, and who was seemingly as addicted to Baskin Robbins Banana Ripple ice cream as he was to regular codeine injections; the Hughes who at the end of his life considered only Mormons trustworthy enough to be let into his inner circle.”

With a target start date of 2012 (which will be interesting given the fact that Nolan will be likely doing press for THE DARK KNIGHT RISES for at least that summer, and given the quality, awards season may be just as busy), the film is set to hit theaters come 2014. 

This is still very much a rumor but, given the film’s history, and Nolan’s love for this project, this appears to be as true as the sky is blue. I’d be shocked if we didn’t hear much more about this project very soon.

What do you think?