As his bum-numbing Hobbit adventure draws to a close Martin Freeman is once again looking to get back on the big screen with news that he’s set to star in Tina Fey’s latest film Taliban Shuffle. The film will see Fey play real-life journalist Kim Barker who, despite no speaking the lingo, traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan and slowly came to love the region. The Wolf of Wall Street’s Margot Robbie is on board to play an ambitious news anchor while Freeman will play Fey’s love interest a Scottish photographer. Directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa are about to start shooting with an aim of releasing next year. Source – The Hollywood Reporter
While Andrew Garfield is normally seen swinging between buildings in New York, in his Spider-man guise rather than anything untoward, it seems he’s also looking to potential be a conscientious objector on the based on true story of Desmond T. Doss. Despite refusing to kill during the conflict at Okinawa during World War II Doss did serve as a medic and became the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Valour for his bravery in healing fallen soldiers. And while it sounds like a bit of a come-back story it will potentially be directed by none other than Mel Gibson. The script has been written by Gibson’s Braveheart screenwriter Randall Wallace, who was set to direct himself. Before any of that can happen though Mr. Garfield is teaming with another Oscar winning director in the form of Martin Scorsese for Silence. Source – Deadline
With retro comedies seemingly making a come-back, we’re looking at your Dumb & Dumber To, it would appear there’s always room for a bit of Zoolander. The planned sequel to Ben Stiller’s 2001 hit has long been in the pipeline but has never quite got through the development stages. That could be about to change with news that Penelope Cruz has signed on to star opposite Ben Stiller and the returning Owen Wilson. The script was written a while ago by Stiller’s Tropic Thunder scribe Justin Theroux and will apparently see Stiller’s Zoolander and Wilson’s Hansel cast out of the modelling world for being too old. Source – Deadline
What do you do after you’ve won the Best Director Oscar for 12 Years A Slave? In the case of Steve McQueen it seems to be a bit of a strange change of pace as news reveals that he’s set to adapt ’80s British TV crime drama Widows into a feature. Based on Lynda La Plante’s 1983 miniseries it follows a group of women whose husbands’ died while robbing a security van as they track down the missing cash only to discover one of their husbands isn’t in fact dead! It’s certainly a change of pace from the more gritty fare of Hunger, Shame and Slave but perhaps he’ll bring the grit to the drama and has seen something in it that we’re missing. McQueen plans to start pre-production before the year is out. Source – Screen International