Jake Gyllenhaal continues his quest to prove his worth in stardom via box office gross (count Prince of Persia, Brothers and Love and Other Drugs against him, with Source Code on the way) in a cop drama from writer/director David Ayer. Keanu Reeves tried to do the same in Ayer’s 2008 Street Kings, to no avail. Ayer’s new project, End of Watch, is being pitched as “a gritty cop drama that follows the friendship between longtime partners” [Variety]. Money’s still being sought after and the script’s still being worked on, so no production details yet.
Ayer’s made a career of making gritty crime films that follow battle-tested friendships that finally face a battle that really tests…them. He wrote Training Day, S.W.A.T. and wrote/directed the unbelievably overwrought Christian Bale vehicle Harsh Times, so diversity at this point, especially considering the brief little pitch, seems moot.
John Lesher is producing under Ayer’s Crave Films and his own Le Grisibi’s Productions.
Can Gyllenhaal carry another Ayer film?