Next year will mark the ten-year anniversary of Stephen Gaghan‘s Oscar-winning drama Syriana and since that George Clooney-led project, we’ve been waiting to see what the director will take on next. Word crept up around 18 months ago that he’d be directing crime drama Candy Store, and since then, the project has gone through a number of iterations. Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, Chris Hemsworth, Jason Clarke, Christian Bale, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Bradley Cooper have all been rumored at one point or another, but now it looks like our final cast has been set.
Coming straight from the production company themselves, the previously rumored Robert De Niro and Omar Sy have been confirmed, as well as two new names. Keira Knightley will take the female lead role of Cherry, while Matthias Schoenaerts (Rust & Bone, Bullhead) has also joined the ensemble. Lionsgate picked up the film for distribution last year, but with no word when it will shoot, hopefully this cast confirmation means we’ll see it by 2015. In the meantime, check out the official synopsis below:
Writer/director Stephen Gaghan weaves a slick and exciting web full of action, sex and intrigue with CANDY STORE. DAVIS (Robert DeNiro) is a veteran NYPD detective whose partner is kidnapped during a bust at a Brooklyn brothel run by CHIDDYBANG (Omar Sy). Meanwhile, BLACK ZEGNA, a former KGB officer turned ruthless gangster, hires CHERRY (Keira Knightley), one of the girls at the brothel, to seduce and incapacitate a major hedge fund manager. By chance, Cherry runs into SWANN, a former CIA operative who suffers from seizures related to his previous work as a spy. Swann bravely fights off the henchmen pursuing her and discovers that she is being used as a pawn in a plot to steal billions in gold. Through his efforts to protect Cherry, Swann inadvertently puts himself in Zegna’s crosshairs. After partnering up with Davis, Swann must overcome his personal demons to thwart the heist, meanwhile saving the woman he has fallen in love with from the wrath of her merciless employer.
What do you think of the cast?