It was inevitable that Hollywood would remake Jacques Audiard’s stylish gangster classic A Prophet, but at least there’s considerable talent gathering behind the scenes. It’s been reported that famed crime novelist and The Drop scribe Dennis Lehane will pen the script, while Sam Raimi has eyed the director’s chair. Raimi’s late filmography has been spotty, but his last foray into crime, A Simple Plan, fit like a glove. Audiard’s original film follows a man in prison who’s taken under the tutelage of a crime boss. [Deadline]
After co-writing credits on Noah Baumbach efforts Frances Ha and Mistress America, Greta Gerwig is finally stepping behind the camera herself. Gerwig will direct fellow “it girl” and Best Actress nominee Saoirse Ronan in Lady Bird. The film will follow a high school senior spending her last year at home in Sacramento. [Deadline]
Darius Marder isn’t a well-known name, but the Place Beyond the Pines co-writer is putting together a powerhouse cast for his directorial debut, The Sound of Metal. Dakota Johnson and Matthias Schoenaerts will lead the film, which centers around a drummer who struggles to reconcile his future when he begins losing his hearing. [Deadline]
With scene-stealing roles in three of last year’s prestige movies — Pawn Sacrifice, Trumbo, Steve Jobs — Michael Stuhlbarg (A Serious Man) has been keeping busy. Now, he’s lined up another high-profile project with the Jessica Chastain-headlined gun control drama, Miss Sloane. Also starring Alison Pill and directed by John Madden (The Debt), the politically resonant film centers on a political fixer who fights back against the Washington gun lobby to pass legislation. [The Hollywood Reporter]
Following last year’s relatively small-scale The Voices, Marjane Satrapi has announced the complete cast for her next film: an adaptation of Romain Puértola’s global bestseller The Extraordinary Journey of The Fakir Who Got Trapped In an Ikea Wardrobe, which has been abbreviated to the slightly less unwieldy The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir for the screen. Bollywood superstar Dhanush was previously announced as the lead, and Uma Thurman, Alexandria Daddario, Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips), and Laurent Lafitte (who is also co-starring in the upcoming Paul Verhoeven film Elle) have since been added to the cast. They join previously announced actors Gemma Arteton, Abel Jafri (Timbuktu), and Seemas Biswas. The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir has the intriguingly bizarre premise of a con man on a pilgrimage from India to an Ikea in Paris. [Variety]