Will John Hillcoat ever catch a break? Despite previously talking with enthusiasm about "The Revenant," Hillcoat has now reportedly exited the project with French helmer Jean-François Richet in line as a replacement.
Scribe Mark L. Smith originally unveiled Hillcoat as being attached to helm the adaptation of Michael Punke's novel of the same name, which centers on the 1820s story of a frontiersman, Hugh Glass, on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling. A feature adaptation had also been developed as a vehicle for Samuel L. Jackson and later had Park Chan-wook attached to helm though neither iterations came to fruition.
Pajiba are now reporting, though, that the project has lost Hillcoat as director for unexplained reasons but has Richet, the director of recent two-part crime epic 'Mesrine' starring Vincent Cassel, as a potential replacement. Richet's last Hollywood venture wasn't exactly a success ("Assault On Precinct 13") but his French crime epic garnered multiple César nominations and wins, along with strong notices from critics on this side of the ocean, no doubt part of the reason why he's being offered a return stateside. The site also adds that Hillcoat is still attached to helm a remake of classic neo-noir "Le Cercle Rouge" possibly modernized by an Asian setting. On top of that, the director has more projects gestating than he can possibly chew on, including a potential teaming with Shia Labeouf and Chris Pinefor cop-drama "Triple Nine," an adaptation of musical collaborator Nick Cave's novel "The Death Of Bunny Munro" being developed for television with Ray Winstone in the lead, and a Joe Penhall-scripted remake of "La Bonne Annee" with Daniel Craig.
We're still ruing the major cinephile loss that was the breakdown of Hillcoat's depression-era crime-drama "The Wettest Country In The World," which we now imagine would be like a working class version of Martin Scorsese's "Boardwalk Empire" on HBO. Someone, just please let Hillcoat go behind the camera for a feature film again...
Update: Here's the new poster for the film via Yahoo.
After the first somewhat fluffy trailer for David O. Russell's boxing drama "The Fighter," the long-gestating project was looking like a shadow of its former self which, in the past, had attracted a prestige of talent including Darren Aronofsky, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon.
A new sneak peak that debuted last night on AMC during "Mad Men," however, has finally exhibited some of the potential which has seen the film touted as an award season contender. Adding equal parts of thespians Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale and Melissa Leo, the trailer hints at a plot involving a tug of war for Micky Ward's (Wahlberg) attention between his half brother/trainer (Bale), his girlfriend (Amy Adams) and his mother (Leo) which looks every bit a tense, hearty relationship/family drama lying underneath a rag-to-riches sporting tale. A passion project for Wahlberg, the actor has been attached to star as Ward for the best part of the last decade and linked up with familiar talent to help get the project on screen: O. Russell directed him in "I Heart Huckabees," while Bale was briefly attached to star alongside him in everyman-goes-vigilante project, "Prisoners." "The Fighter" hits theaters December 10th; color us excited.
Of all the actors who got a boost off "Inception" this summer (which is pretty much all of them, to some degree or other), Tom Hardy was perhaps the breakout star. Those of who'd seen the likes of "Bronson" or his TV work like "Stuart: A Life Backwards" had been fans for a while, but his role as the playful, flamboyant forger Eames brought the joys of the actor to a wider audience. He's already set for a small role in "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy," and the lead alongside Chris Pine and Reese Witherspoon in McG's action-comedy "This Means War," but suffered a blow over the weekend as "Fury Road," in which Hardy was set to take over Mel Gibson's role as Mad Max, was delayed for over a year.
This is no big problem for Hardy, as Deadline is reporting that he's landed another of the most sought-after roles around -- he's joining the cast of Christopher Nolan's still-untitled third "Batman" film, the follow-up to the critical and commercial smash "The Dark Knight." Many had tipped "Inception" co-star Joseph Gordon-Levittfor a role in the film, and while that could still theoretically be in play, Hardy looks to be locked in. There's no word on what character Hardy will play -- Warner Bros. won't even confirm if the role is villainous in nature. But unless he's playing Robin (who Nolan has promised won't make an appearance), it seems safe to assume that he'll be a bad guy. But who could it be? The Lizard? Venom? Sorry, wrong superhero franchise...
The Riddler is the one that's been batted about most by fans, as the character seems to fit the realistic nature of Nolan's films the best. If that is Hardy's role, it can be guaranteed that, like Heath Ledger's Joker, it'll be a wildly different version of the character than ever seen before. This is still breaking, so we'll update if and when more information become available. The third Batman begins filming next spring for a release in the summer of 2012.
Ok, now that your head is still reeling at the speed-ramping possibilities of Zack Snyder and the new "Superman" film, here's some slightly less shocking news to end your day.
Speaking to the Uruguayan press, Hugh Jackmantold the local media that "Wolverine 2" would be shooting in March or April of 2011. This sounds reasonable, the original timetable was January 2011 and those estimates are always a bit overly optimistic. The script is being written by Christopher McQuarrie and is said to be based of the classic 1982 "Wolverine" mini-series created by Chris Claremont and artist Frank Miller.
Recent directors who's names have been touted to helm the picture include David Slade, Darren Aronofsky and Matt Reeves (Robert Schwentke has moved on). Aronofsky's not going to take the gig, but he will let the producers buy him a free lunch and as a friend of Jackman (he directed him in "The Fountain"), he likely entertained the thought, but it's more than probable that he's already passed. With "Let Me In," Reeves demonstrated he's is more than half the director we first estimated with "Cloverfield" and the remake's balance of tenderness and horror, certainly would make him a good fit for this material -- but the filmmaker also seems to be a thoughtful and intelligent one, so after watching "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" we assume he knows better.
That leaves genre-for-hire man David Slade ("Twilight: Eclipse," "30 Days Of Night") and we're willing to bet unless some bigger name enters the frame, he's going to take the director's spot.
Meanwhile, in smaller related comic-book movie news, according to Showbiz Spy, Christian Bale — who got rather emaciated once again for David O. Russell's "The Fighter" — is once again bulking up for "Batman 3" which is also rumored to start shooting in the spring of 2011. Showbiz Spy isn't the greatest source in the world, they report a lot of rumors, but there's really no reason to doubt this small bit of info.
Will John Hillcoat ever catch a break? Despite previously talking with enthusiasm about "The Revenant," Hillcoat has now reportedly exited the project with French helmer Jean-François Richet in line as a replacement.
