Editing Road to Perdition (section)

===Development===
When [[Max Allan Collins]] wrote the graphic novel ''[[Road to Perdition (comics)|Road to Perdition]]'', his book agent saw potential in the story as a film adaptation and showed it to a film agent.<ref name="Facts">{{cite news |author=Singh, Arune |url=http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=1240 |title=Just The Facts Ma'am: Max Collins Talks 'Road To Perdition' |work=[[Comic Book Resources]] |date=2002-06-16 |access-date=2007-06-06 |archive-date=18 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018104447/http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=1240 |url-status=dead }}</ref> By 1999, the novel had reached Dean Zanuck, who was the vice president of development at the company owned by his father, producer [[Richard D. Zanuck]]. The novel was sent to the elder Zanuck in Morocco, who was there producing ''[[Rules of Engagement (film)|Rules of Engagement]]'' (2000). The Zanucks agreed on the story's prospect and sent it to director-producer [[Steven Spielberg]]. Shortly afterward, Spielberg set up the project at his studio [[DreamWorks Pictures|DreamWorks]], though he did not pursue the film's direction due to his full slate.<ref name="Killer">{{cite magazine |author=Jeff Jensen |url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,320333,00.html |title=Killer Instinct |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |date=2002-07-19 |access-date=2007-06-06 |archive-date=13 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413144011/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,320333,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Sam Mendes sought a new project after completing ''[[American Beauty (1999 film)|American Beauty]]'' (1999) and explored prospects including ''[[A Beautiful Mind (film)|A Beautiful Mind]]'', ''[[K-PAX (film)|K-PAX]]'', ''[[The Shipping News (film)|The Shipping News]]'',<ref name="Power">{{cite news|author=Wloszczyna, Susan |url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/2002/2002-07-12-perdition.htm |title=Power trio hits the 'Road'|work=[[USA Today]]|date=2002-07-12|access-date=2007-06-06}}</ref> and ''[[The Lookout (2007 film)|The Lookout]]''. DreamWorks sent Mendes ''Road to Perdition'' as a prospect, and Mendes was attracted to the story, considering it "narratively very simple, but thematically very complex".<ref name="Killer"/> Mendes specified one theme being the parents' world is inaccessible to their children. Mendes considered the story's theme to be about how children deal with violence, and whether exposure to violence would render children violent themselves. Mendes described the script as having "no moral absolutes", a factor that appealed to the director.<ref name="Rumblings">{{cite news |author=Stax|url=http://movies.ign.com/articles/317/317759p1.html |title=Rumblings on 'The Road to Perdition'|work=[[IGN]] |date=2002-01-24|access-date=2007-06-06}}</ref>