The way the story usually goes, Edgar Allan Poe died in a gutter, maybe drunk or maybe not, maybe thanks to some foul play of others, maybe not. It was a mysterious death fitting with the poet's career of dark and macabre work, and one of those stories you get told in 7th grade English class to spook you out.

Now James McTeigue, director of V for Vendetta and the upcoming Ninja Assassin, will try to solve the mystery. He told Slashfilm that his next project will be a period thriller called The Raven, combining Poe's famous poem with details from the last five days of his life to make a period crime thriller.

“It’s like the poem, "The Raven," itself, crossed with Se7en. It should be pretty cool. The script is really good and everyone responds to it really well. I’m in the middle of casting.”

McTeigue also had an update on his planned adaptation of Richard Morgan's novel Altered Carbon, which you can find over at Slashfilm. Knowing nothing about Altered Carbon, but having gone through the requisite Poe phase (around the same time as a black nail polish phase, naturally), I'm dying to see this take on the poet's life.