The old friends and past Oscar winners are back in the saddle again, and this writing up a contract to get paid for it. THR is reporting that the duo is close to closing a first-look deal with Warner Brothers for a company of their creation, its name not yet known.
It could be a rejuvenation of LivePlanet, the company the two ran under Disney’s roof for a decade (until 2007) while they conducted Project Greenlight, the filmmaking show which resulted in three unsuccessful indies (Stolen Summer, The Battle of Shaker Heights and Feast). LivePlanet also had a hand in Affleck’s critically-hailed directorial debut Gone, Baby, Gone and this year’s Tron Legacy.
The way first look goes is like this: a studio pays for a company’s ideas, meaning, in this case, that Warner Bros. will get first look at anything the Damon/Affleck collaboration come up with. If Warner’s passes, the company can pitch elsewhere.
Luckily for Warner Bros, both filmmakers are in the upswing of their respective careers, Damon consistently burning on all cylinders since his Oscar win 12 years ago (we’ll forgive All The Pretty Horses) and Affleck making a Rocky-like comeback from one of the worst stretches in movie star history with a solid writing/directing palette and very good supporting work in good fare like Hollywoodland, State of Play, Extract and this year’s The Company Men (I guess we can forgive Surviving Christmas, or at least forget it).
What do you think of thos pending deal? Will it pan out for Warner Brothers?