James McTeigue Directs 'Alien Sleeper Cell', Ned Benson Pens 'How Starbucks Saved My Life', and More

Where has The Raven and V for Vendetta director James McTeigue been lately? He's been busy working on Sense8, the new TV series developed by his buddies the Wachowskis. He's now headed back to the big screen for Alien Sleeper Cell, a film that hasn't been heard about in more than four years. It's described as an alien invasion flick with elements of The Bourne Identity and FX's The Americans,  penned by Morgan Davis Foehl. Foehl wrote Michael Mann's upcoming cyber-thriller, Blackhat, and wrote the script for the upcoming Mass Effect movie. McTeigue's next film is the Milla Jojovich-led action thriller, Survivor, due out next year. He's also set to helm the Bloodsport remake at some point. [THR]

Ned Benson's ambitious directorial debut The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby has made him one of Hollywood's rising stars before the film has even hit theaters, and already he's gaining more work because of it.  He's set to rewrite an adaptation of Michael Gates Gill's memoir, How Starbucks Saved My Life. In the works since 2006 when Tom Hanks optioned the rights before it was even published, the story tells of how Gill went from being a high-powered ad exec to working as a barista at Starbucks. While there he finds an unexpected mentor who helps reshape his outlook on life.  Hanks had been planning to star with Gus Van Sant directing, but now that the project is set up at Weinstein it's basically starting over from scratch. Benson is taking over screenplay duties from Chocolat writer Robert Nelson Jacobs.

SNL and Funny or Die's Jake Szymanski is in talks to direct Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, a comedy based on the true story of Mike and Dave Stangle, whose attempts to find wedding dates through Craigslist went viral for some reason.  Andrew Cohen and Brendan O'Brien, writers on the Seth Rogen/Zac Efron comedy Neighbors, penned the screenplay which has the immature brothers' dates turning out to be even less refined than they are. Szymanski will first complete work on The Social Life (formerly He's Fu**ing Perfect) which stars Rebel Wilson and Amanda Seyfried. [THR]

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Pierce Brosnan, Milla Jojovich, Angela Bassett, and Emma Thompson Join James McTeigue's 'Survivor'

Having worked with George Lucas and The Wachowski's on the Star Wars and Matrix franchises, James McTeigue has been in the spotlight since he first stepped behind the camera with V for Vendetta. While many consider that film a cult classic for some unknown reason, it's been diminishing returns ever since, hitting a rather embarrassing low with ponderous Edgar Allan Poe flick, The Raven. One thing he's never had a problem with is attracting big stars, and for his next project he's assembled quite a cast.

Millennium Films has tapped McTeigue to direct Survivor, with Milla Jojovich, Pierce Brosnan, Emma Thompson, and Angela Bassett starring. The script by Phil Shelby will call for Jojovich to play "a State Department employee newly posted to the American embassy in London, where she is charged with stopping terrorists from getting into the U.S. That puts her right in the line of fire and she is targeted for death and framed for crimes. Discredited, she is forced to go on the run while she tries to clear her name and stop a large-scale terrorist attack set for New Year’s Eve in Times Square"

Sounds potentially interesting, but with McTeigue on board expect it to be too dark and muddy to be properly enjoyed. He's one of the few who can make a simple film like Ninja Assassin unwatchable, so my expectations for this are pretty low.  He recently came aboard the long-developing Bloodsport remake, but it looks like Survivor will be first as filming is set to begin in January. [Deadline]

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Clive Owen and Katherine Heigl set for James McTeigue's 'Survivor'

Where exactly did things go off course for Clive Owen? Once one of Hollywood's hottest leading men, with films such as Children of Men, Closer, and Inside Man to his credit, the last few years have seen him languishing in one tired project after another. Whether it was the awful Killer Elite or the disappointing (at least financially) Duplicity, he can't seem to buy a break on the big screen. After solid work on HBO's Hemingway & Gellhorn, Owen returns to smoldering form later this month in Shadow Dancer (review of that here), which nobody will ever see. Unfortunately, his next project will star Katherine Heigl, which means it'll be in a multiplex near you.

Owen and Heigl will star in Survivor, a new action film from James McTeigue, the overrated director behind the overrated V for Vendetta. He's also the guy who somehow made ninjas boring with Ninja Assassin. Heigl plays a State Dept. employee in London who is framed for the death of her entire team. She's forced on the run when a team of unknown killers targets her as she's trying to clear her name and stop a catastrophic attack set for New Year's Eve.  Owen's role isn't made clear, but I'm guessing it won't be one for the highlight reel.

So, Katherine Heigl: action star? How does that strike you? Filming on Survivor begins in July. [Screen Daily]

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