Christian Bale in Talks to Play Steve Jobs in Danny Boyle's Biopic

Christian Bale may not be the most obvious choice to play Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, but his name was rumored some time ago back when David Fincher was looking to direct it. When Fincher exited and Danny Boyle took over, an ambitious wishlist of Bradley Cooper, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck emerged, but it looks like the job is Bale's if he wants it.

According to THR , Bale is now in talks for the untitled Steve Jobs biopic that features a screenplay by Aaron Sorkin. This would be completely different from the other Jobs film from last year that starred Ashton Kutcher and was quickly forgotten. Sorkin's script is structured around three 30-minute "real time" segments following the product launches of the Mac, IPod, and NeXt.

Bale would be taking on Jobs next and setting aside any plans to star in The Deep Blue Good-By, James Mangold's detective film based on the Travis McGee mystery novels. Negotiations on that had hit a snag because Bale wasn't interested in doing any sequels, and the project is basically in limbo for the time being. Even a deal can be worked out he'll film Jobs first.

No word on when production will begin but it sounds like Sony wants to move fast on this one.

Read More

Christian Bale Eyes 'The Deep Blue Good-By'; Turned Down 'True Detective'

It's taken quite awhile for 20th Century Fox to mount an adaptation of John D. MacDonald's popular Travis McGee mystery novel, The Deep Blue Good-By. James Mangold (The Wolverine) may be the current guy set to head up the film but he's hardly the first they went after. Oliver Stone and Paul Greengrass took a look at it, too, and Leonardo DiCaprio had been attached to star. But he had to drop out and will merely produce, leaving the door wide open for another A-lister to take his spot, and it appears Mangold has his sights set on his 3:10 to Yuma star, Christian Bale.

According to The Wrap, Bale is Mangold and DiCaprio's choice to star although they stress no deal is in place. Bale is apparently interested in the role of McGee, the beach bum and self-described "salvage consultant" who will help anyone find anything for the right price. The Deep Blue Good-By is the first of an amazing 21 novels McGee has appeared in, the last one in 1984. So obviously if these are a hit they could lead to a fairly lengthy franchise, the first for Bale since he stopped playing Batman a couple of years ago. The most recent script was written by Dennis Lehane, DiCaprio's writer on Shutter Island.

So while Bale is just the latest name to emerge for that film, he's also been something of a wish list candidate to star in the second season of HBO's True Detective. Writer Nic Pizzolatto has said there will be four leads this time and it looks like Colin Farrell and Taylor Kitsch will occupy two of those, but Bale won't have anything to do with it. The Wrap says Bale turned down an offer to join the hit series which just earned a whopping 12 Emmy nominations. No other details are available on that so we don't know if Farrell or Kitsch took the part Bale had been up for.

Read More

James Mangold to Direct Travis McGee Mystery 'The Deep Blue Good-By'

There are a number of projects that A-list actors become attached to that never pan out for one reason or another, and Leonardo DiCaprio is no different. A few years ago he agreed to join director Oliver Stone for The Deep Blue Good-By, based on John D. MacDonald's 1964 novel and the first in his Travis McGee mystery series. It never came to pass, but now 20th Century Fox is reviving the film and bringing aboard a familiar director to be at the helm.

Deadline reports Fox has turned to The Wolverine director James Mangold to direct the adaptation, with the most recent script coming from DiCaprio's Shutter Island writer, Dennis Lehane. The series of pulp novels centers on McGee, a detective and self-professed "salvage consultant" who will help anyone find anything for the right price. Here's a synopsis of the novel....

Travis McGee is a self-described beach bum who won his houseboat in a card game. He’s also a knight-errant who’s wary of credit cards, retirement benefits, political parties, mortgages, and television. He only works when his cash runs out, and his rule is simple: He’ll help you find whatever was taken from you, as long as he can keep half.

McGee isn’t particularly strapped for cash, but how can anyone say no to Cathy, a sweet backwoods girl who’s been tortured repeatedly by her manipulative ex-boyfriend Junior Allen? What Travis isn’t anticipating is just how many women Junior has torn apart and left in his wake. Enter Junior’s latest victim, Lois Atkinson.

Frail and broken, Lois can barely get out of bed when Travis finds her, let alone keep herself alive. But Travis turns into Mother McGee, giving Lois new life as he looks for the ruthless man who steals women’s spirits and livelihoods. But he can’t guess how violent his quest is soon to become. He’ll learn the hard way that there must be casualties in this game of cat and mouse.

Fox has always had eyes on this as a potential franchise, but at the time that was with DiCaprio in tow. They'll obviously be looking for someone of his stature if that remains their long-term goal, so we'll have to wait and see how this develops and if it interferes with plans for a 'Wolverine' sequel. 

Read More