'London has Fallen' may have Found a New Director in Babak Najafi

Gerard Butler is going international in the sequel to Olympus has Fallen, the imaginatively-titled London has Fallen. In pursuit of giving it an international flavor Swedish filmmaker Fredrik Bond (Charlie Countryman) was brought on to direct the film, but "creative differences" recently forced him to drop out. After promising a replacement would be found in days to keep the shooting schedule on track, a new director has been found in Babak Najafi.

Najafi is best known for helming Easy Money II: Hard to Kill, and is an Iranian-born director who grew up in Sweden. So he may have a similar sensibility to Bond, who according to Deadline "bristled" at directing a film the size of London has Fallen. Another being looked at the for the job was Australian director Wayne Blair (The Sapphires), but he was apparently one of many who Butler was planning to meet.  So if a deal can't be struck with Najafi there are plenty of other options waiting in the wings.

London has Fallen is to begin filming soon for an October 2nd 2015 release.

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Salma Hayek Leads 'The Septembers of Shiraz'; Christoph Waltz Joins 'Tulip Fever'

* With news emerging over the weekend that Salma Hayek's single-room action flick Everly has been picked up for U.S. distribution, the actress is jumping ahead into her next project. She will join the criminally underused Shohreh Aghdashloo (House of Sand and Fog) in The Septembers of Shiraz. Promisingly, the adaptation of Dalia Sofer's Iran-set novel will be directed by Wayne Blair (The Sapphires), with Gerard Butler producing. Taking place during the 1981 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the story centers on a Jewish family "as they try to come together and escape the deadly tyranny. Hayek will play the mother while Aghdashloo is the family’s housekeeper, whose son used to work for the gem dealer but is not part of the Revolutionary Guard." Salma Hayek playing a Jewish woman sounds a little sketchy, but we'll see how it all turns out.

* Never one to go too long without a new film under his belt, Christoph Waltz has agreed to join Alicia Vikander and Dane DeHaan in Tulip Fever, the 17th-century story about an illicit affair between a painter and the wife of a wealthy merchant during a time when tulipmania had struck Amsterdam.  Justin Chadwick (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom) is directing based on Deborah Moggach's novel. Production should begin in April, marking the end of a long road which saw Jude Law and Matthias Schoenaerts circling roles before they both dropped out. [THR]

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