Never would I have expected Morgan Freeman and Olga Kurylenko to make two near-consecutive collaborations, but there are just some times when life utterly surprises. After this spring’s Oblivion, Variety have learned the pair, along with Vincent Cassel and Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire, Take Shelter), are to star in a crime thriller, Momentum, directed by debut helmer Stephen Campanelli.
Debra Sullivan and Adam Marcus penned the title, which centers on a thief (Kurylenko) fleeing the wrath of an assassin squad (led by Cassel) and the justice of police forces. Thaba Medi and Azari Media are producing Momentum, which begins shooting this January and is expected to land next fall.
Not at all content to slow down, David Gordon Green is readying production on Manglehorn, his follow-up to this year’s dual releases Prince Avalanche and Joe. The lead role has, since May, been occupied by Al Pacino, and with the aforementioned Nicolas Cage-starrer already playing at various international festivals, Green‘s latest picture is now securing the additional players: as THR tell us, Holly Hunter, Chris Messina, and — yes — Harmony Korine are, too, part of the endeavor, their roles going undisclosed at this time.
By the sound of it, Manglehorn offers what could be among the finest roles Pacino‘s had in years, the Paul Logan-scripted project following an older man whose early days as a criminal leave consistent emotional scarring. Lest it all sound like doom and gloom, Green promises “a love story [about] the choices you make in your youth and the situations you set up for yourself,” offering situations which contain “a beautiful humor.” With Worldview Entertainment providing financial assistance, the project should be in front of cameras soon.
According to Deadline, Kristen Scott Thomas will take part in My Old Lady, just picked out of TIFF by Cohen Media Group. Israel Horovitz helms the project, an adaptation of his own play about “a down-and-out New Yorker (Kevin Kline) who travels to Paris to liquidate a huge apartment he’s inherited. But when he gets there, he learns he can’t take possession of the apartment until the old woman who’s living in it dies.” Maggie Smith will fill that latter role, playing a woman named Mathilde, while Thomas is to appear as her daughter, Chloe; Dominique Pinon is included in the lineup, too.
Moving away from the shadow of Harry Potter, star Rupert Grint is said to be boarding a new incarnation of Macbeth — not the version with Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, but one that’s led by Sean Bean and directed by Vincent Regan. Titled Enemy of Man, it takes the original Shakespeare text in a new direction, this particular telling playing as “a timeless tale of war, regicide, betrayal and untimely revenge.” In the helmer’s words, it’s time to “strip back the dialogue, crank up the action and produce an atmospheric and blood-soaked chiller,” which should tell you that this story can be interpreted in just so many ways.
James D’Arcy (Cloud Atlas, Hitchcock), Jason Flemyng, Charles Dance (Game of Thrones), Neil Maskell (Pusher, Kill List), and Joe Gilgun (Lockout, Misfits) also star in Enemy of Man, which is to kick off production in January.
Finally, THR inform us that the eminently likable Dwayne Johnson and endlessly mediocre McG will collaborate on The Fall Guy, the Hyde Park Entertainment- and WWE Studios-backed adaptation of… an ’80s TV series starring Lee Majors. (Hooray for Hollywood.) The story of a stuntman by day, hitman by night has been taking some time for anyone to get right, but the latest draft, by Zack Stentz and Ashley Edward Miller (X-Men: First Class, Thor), is what set everyone’s world on fire. I don’t even have a snarky joke, you’ll be disappointed to hear.
Do any of the pictures in question hold initial appeal? What does the casting say, if it happens to say anything at all?