Christian Bale may have had to pull out of the adaptation of Travis McGee’s The Deep Blue Good-By thanks to his torn knee ligament but it hasn’t stopped him lining up new projects. The latest on his radar is The Promise from director of Revolutionary Road Terry George. The film, which will be set during the last days of The Ottoman Empire and explores the relationship between a medical student, to be played by Oscar Isaac, an American journalist, to be played by Bale and sophisticated woman called Ana, who is yet to be cast yet. Before that Bale has a number of projects coming out including the double whammy of Terence Malick’s Knight Of Cups and Weightless before he heads to Adam McKay‘s financial drama The Big Short. Source – The Hollywood Reporter
It seems all things Jurassic are about to flood our screens with news that Hostel director Eli Roth is looking to catch himself a prehistoric shark in the form of Meg. If that names sounds familiar it’s because Meg has been swimming around the development oceans for a long time and is once again poking her head above the surface ready to bite. The story, based on the 1997 novel by Steve Alten, sees two deep sea divers discover two enormous Megaladon sharks – basically an enormous version of our current king of the deep The Great White – and fail to contain them in the Mariana Trench as they head towards the coast of China to presumably feast on the locals. Roth has recently been quite active in all things shark having hosted this year’s Shark Week on The Discovery Chanel. Before that he’s got Knock Knock with Keanu Reeves hitting screens next week. Source – Variety
Kenneth Branagh, who last gave us Disney’s Cinderella, could be about to go all Agatha Chrisite on us by turning his attention to Murder On The Orient Express. While he hasn’t officially signed on to direct the film Branagh would seem like a good fit after all his dalliances with Shakespeare and his natural penchant for all things wonderfully British. Christie’s novel has been adapted numerous times including the Oscar winning version with Albert Finney as Poirot which saw Ingrid Bergman win an Oscar for her role. The film is in good producing hands as well with Ridley Scott, Simon Kinberg and Mark Gordon all on board. Source – The Wrap
Last seen as bordering on Hulk like proportions in American Sniper it seems Bradley Cooper could once again be going to war but this time World War II. Cooper is lining up his next project as producer and presumably star in the form of Ghost Army. Based on the true life story by Rick Beyer the full title of the book pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the project because it’s called The Ghost Army Of World War II: How One Top-Secret Unit Deceived The Enemy With Inflatable Tanks, Sound Effects, And Other Audacious Fakery. Which is quite the mouthful and needs a bit of trim really. The slightly longer versions sees a group of American artists, designers, ad executives and various other professions tasked with fooling the German Army that the American Army was in fact much larger and more dangerous than it really was. Cunning right? Earth To Echo’s Henry Gayden is currently adapting the book. Before that Cooper will be seen in Cameron Crowe’s Aloha before heading off to Adam Jones with Alicia Vikander and Jamie Dornan. Source – Deadline
Katherine Waterson, one of the best things about Paul Thomas Anderson‘s Inherent Vice, looks to be heading to the world of Harry Potter with spin-off Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. Warners are already planning this as a new trilogy with Potter veteran David Yates all set to direct the first film. Based on J.K. Rowling’s novel Eddie Redmayne will play Newt Scamander who is a magizoologist who travels New York on his first adventure where he meets witch Tina who Waterston will play. Before that she’ll be seen in Danny Boyle’s Aaron Sorkin scripted Steve Jobs with Michael Fassbender in the title role. Source – The Hollywood Reporter
Never one to put a potential cash cow out to pasture Disney are looking to make a sequel to their box office hit Maleficent. Having taken in a whooping $758 million at the global box office a follow-up was always an inevitability and Disney have already hired Alice In Wonderland and Maleficent writer Linda Woolverton to conjure the next script. But there could be one big fly in the ointment in the shape of Angelina Jolie who was the title character in the first film with no deal currently in place to bring her back. Jolie is more and more focusing on her directing career and it remains to be seen if she would be interested in returning to the role. Maybe one more for the Kids Angie? Source – Deadline