This week:
Jessica Chastain is Caught in Flight; Bradley Cooper won't be going Solo in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.; Mike Binder sends someone on a Familymoon; Steve Carell is a Lunatic and Clive Owen has total Recall.
1. It appears that Tree of Life actress Jessica Chastain will play Diana, Princess of Wales in Caught in Flight, for German director Oliver Hirschbiege.
“The film revolves around a secret affair between the late princess and a heart surgeon, Dr. Hasnat Kahn, who was said to be the love of her life. Described as a ‘love story between a princess locked in a tower and an ordinary man’.”
The $15 million budgeted film, written by Steven Jeffreys is set to go into pre-production in March 2012.
Hirschbiege directed the well received Downfall before being tempted by Hollywood to direct the ill-judged The Invasion with Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman.
Chastain is having a bumper year having starred in the aforementioned Tree of Life, as well as Take Shelter, The Help and The Debt.
Source: Thompson on Hollywood
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2. Bradley Cooper’s mild flirtation with The Man From U.N.C.L.E. has come to an end. The Wrap is reporting that The Hangover star has declined a Warner Bros. offer to headline the big screen adaptation of the 1960s television series.
The Steven Soderbergh directed film is currently without a cast, with the likes of George Clooney, Matt Damon and Johnny Depp turning down the lead role of Napoleon Solo.
Anybody else get the feeling that this may just fall apart?
Source: The Wrap
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3. Mike Binder is set to direct Walden Media's latest family comedy Familymoon.
According to Variety:
“[Familymoon]tells the story of a perpetual bachelor who marries a single mother of two. In lieu of a typical honeymoon, the newlyweds take her kids with them on a “familymoon”, where they discover that blending a family in paradise is no vacation.”
The film penned by Family Guy writer Dave Collard should start shooting in early 2012, and casting will get underway soon.
While Binder isn’t a household name, he does know how to put together some great “little films", having directed Indian Summer and The Upside of Anger.
Source: Variety
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4. Universal Pictures has picked up the screen rights to Dave Barry and Alan Zweibel’s novel Lunatics. The studio hopes that the increasingly busy Steve Carell will star in the film which will be produced by Stuber Pictures and Carell’s Carousel production company.
The film follows “two New Jersey soccer dads whose minor feud escalates to create worldwide consequences, and leave them running for their lives.”
Source: Deadline
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5. Clive Owen is attached to star in Recall, a new action film written by Taxi Driver scribe Paul Schrader and set to be directed by Harold Becker (Mercury Rising).
Variety reports that the film sees an “NSA agent trying to piece together the events of a botched hostage rescue operation. As the agent begins to recall events and unearth the truth, he finds he can trust neither his fellow soldiers nor his own mind.”
Recall is set to star shooting in March with locations set Bulgaria and Washington D.C.
Source: Variety
That’s it for now. See you at the movies.