Considering the vast amount of projects Tony Scott was attached to when he suddenly passed last year, Hollywood is looking to get other helmers attached to them and today brings news of such an occurrence. According to The Wrap, The Bourne Identity‘s Doug Liman, who is finishing up Edge of Tomorrow, is in talks with 20th Century Fox for the thriller Narco Sub, which was also once in the hands of Joe Carnahan. Scripted by Safe House‘s David Guggenheim, the film tracks the semi-submersible crafts that South American drug cartels have used to smuggle cocaine into the U.S.
In other directing news over at Fox, the studio has also found a replacement for an adaptation of Charles Martin The Mountain Between Us. Once set for Gerardo Naranjo (Miss Bala), Paradise Now helmer Hany Abu-Assad (who recently hit the festival circuit with Omar) is now on board. Deadline doesn’t tell us if Michael Fassbender is still attached, but the story would follow a man and woman whose plane crashes and they must brave the elements in a snow mountain environment.
Next up, Jean-Marc Vallée won’t debut his Matthew McConaughey-led Dallas Buyers Club until next month, but the director has already lined up his next two features. He’ll be directing Reese Witherspoon in Wild and then next summer Deadline reports he’ll begin casting on his next film, Demolition. Scripted by Bryan Sipe the film will follow a young investment banker whose life is in shambles after his wife tragically dies, only to meet a new woman that helps put it back in place.
Moving over to a director who is jumping from the foreign circuit to English-language, Deadline also reports that Iceland’s Oskar Thor Axelsson, who Nicolas Winding Refn lent a hand to for Black’s Game, is set for the action thriller Point Of Violence. Coming from Millennium Films and a script by Tony Mosher and Christian Parkes, the film will tell different versions of the same story, featuring a hit man who is ordered to kill his former lover. Production begins early year for a likely 2015 release.
Lastly, Johnny Depp and Joel Edgerton have found their director for Shantaram, an adaptation of Gregory David Roberts‘ novel. With the former star producing and the latter leading, THR reports that Garth Davis (who picked up the directing reigns on the recent mini-series Top of the Lake after Jane Campion kicked things off) is in talks with WB to direct. The project will track Edgerton as drug addict and robber who escapes from a prison to lead a life of a doctor in India, only to get involved with the drug game in Afghanistan.
Which of the above projects are you most looking forward?