Eastwood And Damon Re-Teaming For ‘Hereafter’ [Updated]

We first heard word of a project called Hereafter late last year, with Clint Eastwood possibly directing and Steven Spielberg also being involved. Fast forward about 10 months and we learn, by way of The Hollywood Reporter, that Eastwood will, indeed, direct the film, and stepping into the lead role is Matt Damon. The project will reunite the two after they just worked together on the not-yet-released Nelson Mandela pic, Invictus.

Eastwood will direct the supernatural thriller from an original script by Frost/Nixon writer, Peter Morgan. DreamWorks first acquired the script from Morgan last year, and very early on it piqued the interest of Eastwood. [See UPDATE below for details on plot] I imagine Eastwood is a filmmaker who takes subject matter very seriously when he’s considering directing a film, and so his interest being caught early on must mean Morgan’s script is well worth making a fuss over.

[UPDATE] Thanks to Movie Line, via The Playlist, we get some details on what the plot of Hereafter may be:

“Damon plays a character named George, a factory worker with the ability to commune with the dead, not a talent he’s so thrilled about. There are two other plotlines involving a French journalist coping with the aftermath of a near-death experience during the 2004 tsunami, and a 12-year old British boy searching for a way to contact his dead twin.”

With the blessing of DreamWorks founder, Spielberg, Eastwood is moving Hereafter to his home base at Warners. Eastwood himself will produce, along with Robert Lorenz (his producing partner) and Kathleen Kennedy. Spielberg will still serve as an exec producer, as well as Frank Marshall, Tim Moore and screenwriter Morgan.

Clint Eastwood directing Matt Damon on the set of 'Invictus'

I don’t think there’s any film fan who isn’t at least interested in seeing The Man with No Name (a.k.a. Eastwood) and Jason Bourne (a.k.a. Damon) work together in any capacity, let alone as director and star. We’ll get to see their first directing-acting collaboration before year’s end with Invictus (which stars Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela – talk about perfect casting), but after that we’ll get to see them work together on Hereafter. I just wonder what it the film be about: I’m going to guess something to do with ghosts of some sort (I had a team of monkeys work that one out, FYI ).

What do you think of Eastwood and Damon re-teaming after just working together on Invictus? What do you think of the reported plot (given above) of Hereafter?

Hereafter doesn’t have a release date yet, but is set to start filming this fall.

Source: THR, MovieLine and ThePlaylist