Michael B. Jordan Eyed for A Prophet Remake

Michael B. Jordan and Josh Brolin are reported to be the top picks for A Prophet, the Sam Raimi-directed remake of the Oscar-nominated 2009 French-language film of the same name. The original version of A Prophet is a coming of age/prison drama that tells the tale of nineteen-year old Malik El Djebena, a Franco-Arab who lands himself in a prison where there is a strict division between the Corsican and Muslim inmates. Once there, Malik ends up working directly for César Luciani, the cruel-but-efficient leader of the Corsicans that are imprisoned there, but still carry out criminal actives beyond the prison's walls (with the cooperation of corrupt individuals within the institute).

Raimi, who hasn't directed a theatrically-released film since Oz the Great and Powerful in 2013, signed on to direct the Hollywood remake of A Prophet back in 2016, drawing from a script draft written by author/screenwriter Dennis Lehane (The Drop). There haven't been any major updates on the project's status reported since then, though it now appears that Raimi is hoping to begin principal photography on the movie before 2017 draws to a close. His casting choices for the movie also provide a hint at how the film will adapt the French version of A Prophet's commentary on race and class for a U.S. setting.

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According to That Hashtag Show, Jordan and Brolin are Raimi's current top picks to play the Americanized versions of Malik and César - renamed Marcos 'Mark' Colon and simply Cesar, respectively - in the remake of A Prophet. Both of these actors are hot in demand right now, with Jordan set to appear in both Marvel Studios' Black Panther and HBO's Fahrenheit 451 adaptation in 2018, around the same time that he should be reprising his role as Adonis Johnson in Creed II (assuming that the sequel begins filming next year, as costar/writer Sylvester Stallone has been hinting it will).

Brolin, meanwhile, will make his next appearance on the big screen in October's true story-based firefighter drama Only the Brave, before he stars in two major 2018 superhero movie releases: Deadpool 2 and Avengers: Infinity War, where he plays Cable and Thanos, respectively. The actor also has some smaller, more dramatic efforts in the pipeline for release in 2018 along with those tentpoles - including, the sequel to the 2015 drug war drama/thriller Sicario, titled Soldado.

Both Jordan and Brolin seem inclined to continue mixing things up by working on both one-off projects and franchise titles in the future, making their potential involvement with A Prophet all the more plausible. Timing and scheduling may be the deciding factors then, when it comes to the pair signing on for Raimi's remake. Either a late 2017 or an early 2018 production start date ought to work for the pair's schedules - and both would be great picks for their respective roles in the film, so here is to hoping that Jordan and Brolin are able to close their respective deals.

Foreign-language remakes have a real hit-or-miss record in Hollywood (for every The Departed, there's a Secret in Their Eyes), but Raimi's involvement with A Prophet - in combination with the prospect of Jordan and Brolin starring - bodes well for the film. Raimi has spent much of the past fifteen years directing either major tentpoles (the Spider-Man trilogy, Oz the Great and Powerful) or zany horror genre offerings (Drag Me to Hell, the TV series Ash vs. Evil Dead), but more straight-forward dramatic films like A Simple Plan and For Love of the Game arguably still rank among his best directorial efforts to date. A Prophet would see Raimi return to his dramatic storytelling form too, making it all the more intriguing a prospect.