As we said when Criterion Channel programmed his debut—and to date only—feature Not Fade Away, the world needs more David Chase films. That it’s not for lack of trying makes any wait all the worse, and compels our expectations all the more that he’s announced a new, ever-more-likely project. Per Chase’s career-length desire to make films becoming entangled in TV, it’s being developed attendant to an HBO limited series that adapts John Lisle’s Project Mind Control: Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA, and the Tragedy of MKUltra; meanwhile the film, based on the experience of his friend, follows two families and “juxtaposes the agency’s efforts to weaponize LSD with the triumphant rollout of the polio vaccine.”
Despite the long process of adapting Lisle’s book, an “embarrassment of riches,” Chase says the feature is his main priority. Connected to it is a teenage experience taking LSD that seems in keeping with The Sopranos‘ view of the afterlife, and a young Chase’s understanding that “there were other levels of existence.” [The Wrap]
While it seems uncertain if Quentin Tarantino will ever make another film or let his ten-and-done rule drive him towards every other medium, longtime DP Robert Richardson told Deadline that “there’s a possibility sometime next summer” for a Tarantino shoot. With the caveat that he has “no idea” what that could be, the 25-year collaborator, already expected to shoot The Movie Critic just a few years back, is about our most reliable source. In the meantime, there might be more Tarantino, albeit through aslant means: Richardson states “you’d be a fool not to think there’ll be” a longer cut of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood after The Adventures of Cliff Booth arrives later this year—perhaps including footage featured in a book trailer released five whole years ago.
For many, many years, it’s been known that Wes Anderson wants to make a western. The news is so old that Luke Wilson, who hasn’t appeared in one of the director’s films for a quarter-century, was set to star with Owen Wilson, whose appearances in Anderson’s world of late feel more like contractual obligation. Circa 2014, the director acknowledged talking of it during Bottle Rocket press, calling the potential movie “a very peculiar kind of a Western.”
Speaking last week at the Louvre (a likely place for him to show up), Anderson revealed (somewhat at Bill Murray’s pressure) that the idea remains: “We will do a Western, you know. I think. For many years, we’ve talked about doing a Western. Owen and Luke Wilson, I think, will be a part of that… They’re from Texas, too, and I think it’s our destiny.” There’s been no word on a follow-up to The Phoenician Scheme in an era where the director’s working faster than ever; maybe some already-written material is awaiting a greenlight? [Variety]
With a time machine, I might go back and place a handsome bet on the David Lowery / Alex Ross Perry / Michael Bay collaboration and strike deep riches. Per THR, Lowery will direct The Fisherman, an adaptation of John Langan’s novel he wrote with Perry and which Bay’s Platinum Dunes will produce alongside screenwriter Gary Dauberman (It, Annabelle). Lest this seem like a big pivot for the Ghost Story and Mother Mary director, a summation of the source suggests something in keeping with his work’s rustic quality, concerning as it does “Abe and Dan, two widowers who bond together with fishing getaways in upstate New York as way to cope with their grief.” As the synopsis continues, “One day, however, Dan suggests that pair try a new spot, an isolated and mysterious spot named Dutchman’s Creek, which is whispered to allow a person see their loved ones. Even a spooky tale from a man in a diner detailing the terrible history of the creek can’t stop these two men, who eventually find themselves face to face with Der Fisher, aka The Fisherman.”
Sacha Baron Cohen has secretly shot a new Ali G film, marking the character’s first appearance in more than 20 years. Little is known about the film at the time, and will likely arrive with about as much fanfare as a second Borat. [Variety]
Last and, okay, maybe least, Dwayne Johnson is continuing his career rehab with Free Byrd, an action-drama (let’s see how much it’s one and not the other) directed by Sing Sing and Train Dreams producer Greg Kwedar. The project concerns “a Las Vegas motorcycle stuntman who conceals his dementia diagnosis from everyone, including his mechanic brother, as he risks everything on one last jump [and] examines and confronts the mind’s vast mysteries and the beauty and power of asking for help before it’s too late.” With Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity aboard, one expects production will start shortly. [Variety]