Ang Lee Eyes Iraq War Satire 'Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk'

After Ang Lee won his first Academy Award for Best Director after 2005's Brokeback Mountain, his next film was two years later with the Chinese thriller, Lust, Caution. Not the most obvious choice but then Lee has never been an obvious filmmaker. It's been a couple of years since he took home the award again with his 3D adaptation of Life of Pi, a movie many thought couldn't be done, much less with the skill Lee brought to it. While his next film was supposed to be a 3D project chronicling the fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, something else may be coming first.

The Wrap reports Lee is in talks to direct Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, an adaptation of Ben Fountain's 2012 novel, a satire of the Iraq War. And apparently it has the goods to be an Oscar player with a script by Simon Beaufoy, whose Slumdog Millionaire script won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The story follows 19-year-old Texas soldier Billy Lynn and the rest of Bravo Squad after they survive a firefight in Iraq and are brought home by the Bush Administration to be honored during halftime of a Dallas Cowboys game before shipping back out.

All of this depends on when and if Lee moves forward on the Ali/Frazier film, which is apparently proving to be quite the logistical and economic challenge according to producers. After the grand spectacle of his last film Lee may want to take on a different kind of challenge.

Read More

Rupert Sanders Preps 'The Kill List'; Baltasar Kormakur Eyes Next Crime Film; Simon Beaufoy To Pen 'Everest'

A few things that escaped my notice over the last few days that are worth keeping track of, if only because of the talents behind the camera: Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders, and Contraband helmer Baltasar Kormakur.

Sanders is set to direct an adaptation of the upcoming Frederick Forsyth espionage thriller, The Kill List. Producers picked up the rights to the book barely a month ago and are moving on this quickly, so there's a good chance this will be next for Sanders and his other projects will have to wait awhile. Last fall he came aboard to helm The Juliet, a sci-fi "Bonnie & Clyde" film, but we haven't heard anything about it since. The Kill List follows a U.S. Special Forces "tracker" hunting down an extreme fundamentalist terrorist.

Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakur has a couple of films in the pipeline, so let's start with the new one. He has an untitled crime film in the works that is based on a real life scandal involving corrupt politicians releasing criminals from prison as hired killers. The story inspired the recent Filipino film, On the Job, but Kormakur's version won't be a remake.

Before that, Kormakur has Christian Bale all geared up to star in Everest, which details the disastrous 1996 expedition to scale the titular mountain, which was hit by sudden, blinding storms leading to the deaths of eight climbers. Our friend Brendon Connelly over at Bleeding Cool recently spoke to Kormakur, who revealed that Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) is penning the script.

Kormakur recently wrapped up the action comedy 2 Guns with Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg. I wish his American work was half as inspired as what he does back home, but maybe Everest will change all of that. He does seem to have a great command of films involving the ferocity of Mother Nature, such as with his deep sea survival film, The Deep. You can check out our review of that here.

Read More

'Toy Story 3' scribe Michael Arndt may rewrite 'Catching Fire'

It looks like there will be more changes afoot for Catching Fire than just a new director in Francis Lawrence. With production set to begin this summer, and an even tighter filming schedule than before thanks to Jennifer Lawrence's X-men: First Class commitments, Lionsgate is hoping to bring in Michael Arndt(Toy Story 3, Little Miss Sunshine) to do some scriptwork.

Simon Beaufoy(Slumdog Millionaire) wrote the first draft, with the Academy Award winning Arndt coming aboard for a rewrite if the deal comes through. This is one of the side effects of losing Gary Ross and adding Lawrence as director, as Ross was very hands on with the writing process along with Billy Ray and author Suzanne Collins. Lawrence doesn't really handle that part of things, and so another needs to be brought in to help punch things up. They couldn't have made a better choice than Arndt.

In a nice little twist, Arndt recently did some writing on Disney's Order of the Seven, their Snow White adaptation which once had Lawrence attached to direct. Catching Fire is expected to open on November 22nd 2013, but I'm starting to catch a whiff of desperation in meeting the time crunch.

Read More

Why wait? Simon Beaufoy already writing sequel to 'The Hunger Games'

If you're Lionsgate and you just spent over $400M to buy Summit, you have to be tinkled pink at the prospect of having the two biggest tween franchises under the same banner. Twilight may be wrapping up, but there's a good chance it'll continue in some form. And The Hunger Games, while probably not quite on the same level as those glittery bloodsuckers, is poised to take over the top spot starting on March 23rd.

A couple of months ago we learned that Lionsgate wanted to get the ball rolling on Catching Fire, the second novel in Suzanne Collins' trilogy, and were looking at Simon Beaufoy to take over the script. The Wrap now confirms Beaufoy has begun work on the adaptation, which already has a release date nailed for November 22nd 2013.  Gary Ross, who directed The Hunger Games and co-wrote the script alongside Collins, has been confirmed to return. In less surprising and slightly spoilery news, Josh Hutcherson, Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, and Liam Hemsworth will all be back.

Beaufoy is a frequent collaborator with Danny Boyle, having written both Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours. So yeah, he's pretty good. Ross will be overseeing his work on the script, but to what degree he'll have input is unclear.

I'm not going to dive into the plot of Catching Fire, since it gives away some key plot points. I'll just say that the world of Panem is expanded to a considerable degree, and we find out there's a lot more going on than just the tournament. 

Read More

Sure Shots: The Hunger Games; Kirsten Dunst; Pacific Rim

* Lionsgate must be feelin' pretty good after the wave of good reviews for The Hunger Games' trailer. So much so that rumors are they're already at work trying to snag a writer for the sequel, Catching Fire. Gary Ross will be back to direct, and the studio is said to be aiming for Academy Award winning writer Simon Beaufoy(Slumdog Millionaire) to pen the script. He hasn't taken the job yet, so this is still pretty early, but it shows that enthusiasm for The Hunger Games is pretty high. The sequel, which is set for a March 9th 2012 release, expands on the world of Panem considerably, but I don't want to say more and spoil who comes out of the first film alive. [Deadline]

* Kirsten Dunst, Best Actress award winner? She's got my vote, thanks to her gripping performance in Melancholia, and I've been very happy that others are starting to take notice and give her roles that will make people forget she was ever in those Spider-Man movies. The latest addition to her slate is Red Light Winter, based on the play by Adam Rapp(Winter Passing). Starring Mark Ruffalo and Billy Crudup, the story centers on two friends who travel to Amsterdam to get away from their lives, only to have a sexy prostitute(Dunst) get between them. Sounds like another mature role for the actress, who has a number of interesting flicks on the way. Filming will kick off in January. [Thompson On Hollywood]

* If it wasn't enough that Pacific Rim sounds like the perfect film for Guillermo Del Toro to make his directing return to after what'll be five years at the time it comes out, but he gave us a drool worthy cast that promises it'll be one of the most fun films of that year. Charlie Hunnam, Charlie Day, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, and Max Martini are all lined up for the massive creature feature. But wait...isn't there an old Del Toro favorite who seems to be missing? Like say...Ron Perlman? No need to worry, as Del Toro recently revealed to Wired that his Hellboy star will have a role in the film, which chronicles a futuristic battle between humans and an invading swarm of monsters.

Read More