The wheels are in motion for Unbroken. None too long after Angelina Jolie secured the project as her sophomore directing effort — following 2011’s In the Land of Blood and Honey — and following news of a Coen brothers rewrite, the casting process would appear to be in full effect. As per Deadline, the actress has considered three young males as her star: Dane DeHaan (The Place Beyond the Pines, The Amazing Spider-Man 2), Jack O’Connell (300: Rise of an Empire, Skins), and relative unknown Alexander Doetsch Dreymon. Unsurprisingly, the orbit they’ve entered is for a part which, in the outlet’s words, “has the potential to be a career-making job.”
Based on the account penned by Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken tells the true story of World War II pilot Louis Zamperini, who entered the war after competing in the 1936 Olympics as a runner. He ended up in the midst of an incredible ordeal when his plane crashed over the Pacific, after which he and two fellow members were stranded on a raft. One died during the 47 days spent aboard, what with the low supply of food or water, while he and the surviving comrade drifted to a POW camp, only to spend three years attempting to survive in this different kind of hell.
Whoever nabs the spot will play in a range from the Olympic days to Zamperini’s time as a POW; the still-living man (now 96) is likely to be portrayed by older performers in the subsequent decades. If all goes as planned, Jolie ought to begin shooting Unbroken this fall.
Next, Variety have been informed that Emma Watson — though currently showing a strong post-franchise run with dual turns in The Bling Ring and This is the End — is to star in a new series from Harry Potter producer David Heyman. Now an older performer, however, she can play things a little more mature, for their new collaboration earns comparisons to Game of Thrones — except female-skewed. (Except to say that the involvement of Warner Bros. would probably, though not hopefully, point toward a project containing fewer instances of sex and violence.)
Titled The Queen of the Tearling, it’s based on an upcoming trilogy by author Erika Johansen, “set three centuries after an environmental catastrophe when a malevolent Red Queen holds considerable power.” Watson ordering a beheading or three? This is going in the right direction.
Another casting tidbit flies in from Deadline, the outlet reporting that Eddie Redmayne (Les Misérables) is singing to portray the legendary Stephen Hawking in the Working Title-backed, James Marsh-directed biopic Theory of Everything. The director of Shadow Dancer is working from a script by novelist Anthony McCarten, itself a spotlight on the romantic bond Hawking shared with his wife — but, having been divorced twice, the spouse has not been specified. (This will more likely than not factor into the drama, as it were.)
Theory of Everything will start production this fall.
Finally, Variety have word of a directorial debut. Friends actress Courtney Cox is to helm Hello I Must Be Going, filming at the end of the month with Seann William Scott in the lead as “a suicidal man who heads back to his hometown to settle scores.” Rob Riggle, Kate Walsh (The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Grey’s Anatomy), and Kyle Gallner (Magic Valley, Nightmare on Elm Street) also star, working under a screenplay by David Flebotte (Boardwalk Empire).
New Artists Alliance and Coquette Productions are behind the effort.
Do any of the listed projects leave some kind of impression? Which would you like to see the most?