With a notch on his wizarding wand now complete, the Oscar-winning Eddie Redmayne is now gearing up to star in Morten Tyldum‘s adaptation of the historical thriller The Last Days of Night. According to Deadline, it concerns the battle between the mammoths of the industrial era Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse as they try to quite literally electrify America. Despite this premise, Redmayne will play neither of the two titans, instead starring as Paul Cravath, a now-famed lawyer that made the dispute his first career-making case. The script is penned by The Imitation Game scribe Graham Moore, which marks a re-team between director, writer, and production company Black Bear Pictures.
This production has a funny case of meta-reality, as the Weinstein Company are also suiting up to make a Edison v. Westinghouse pic that stars Benedict Cumberbatch and potentially Jake Gyllenhaal. This is not the first time in recent news where two film companies vie over similar material, and it will be interesting to see — in both cases — who gets off the ground first (or at all), and what the finished product looks like.
In less competitive news, Garth Davis is in talks to expand his already impressive cast for the biblical drama Mary Magdalene with Tahar Rahim, who would play Judas, known as the man who betrayed Jesus Christ. Judas’ betrayal, the story goes, was the cause of Christ’s crucifixion, and Judas was forever vilified as such. If it goes through, this would put Rahim opposite Rooney Mara, with Joaquin Phoenix playing Jesus Christ in the film that could also star Chiwetel Ejiofor. Rahim is best known for his complex leading turn in Jacques Audiard‘s searing crime drama A Prophet, and he has since worked with Asghar Farhadi, among others.
Lastly, director Lynne Ramsay has just added The Neon Demon‘s Alessandro Nivola to her newest feature You Were Never Really Here, which already stars Joaquin Phoenix. Ramsay’s new feature follows a former soldier who dedicates his time to saving a women caught up in sex trafficking, with bloodshed and revenge surely ensuing. However, knowing Ramsay, her tale should be much more subdued and subtle, and yet all the more wrenching and disturbing. Ramsay is also penning the screenplay, which is an adaptation of a short story of the same name by Jonathan Ames. The film is financed and distributed by Amazon Studios, with Page 114 producing. [Variety]
Additionally, Nivola has joined Liz W. Garcia‘s One Percent More Humid, a drama about two childhood friends who deal with trauma from their past when they reunite over summer break in college. Nivola will star opposite Juno Temple, Julia Garner, and Olivia Luccardi. Garcia is also writing and co-producing the film.