Trance, Danny Boyle‘s follow-up to the Oscar-nominated 127 Hours, was first announced back in early May, and since that time, plenty of casting rumors have popped up — most notably those involving Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy, the two co-stars of this year’s X-Men: First Class. Last we heard, both actors were circling the project for different roles, and although that may have been true at the time, it appears as if Fassbender‘s involvement has been cut short due to scheduling issues. [Twitch]
Boyle, however, doesn’t seem to be lingering on this unfortunate occurrence one bit, as he has already announced Colin Firth (The King’s Speech) as his top choice to take over the role of Aiden, which was originally going to be Fassbender‘s task. Boyle has also stated that Scarlett Johansson is his favored choice for the supporting role of Elizabeth. McAvoy, meanwhile, looks poised to remain committed to playing Simon. Here’s a brief synopsis of the heist thriller:
An assistant at an auction house masterminds the heist and teams up with a gang of thieves, but suffers a blow to the head and wakes up with amnesia. He is the only one who knows where the painting’s location is and after his continued failure to remember, the gang begins to suspect duplicity on his part and hire a female hypnotist to get into his brain.
Trance will begin production this fall for an early 2013 release after Boyle finishes up directing the Olympics.
What do you think of Boyle’s casting aspirations? Are you less interested now that Fassbender has left the project?