Director Philip Noyce is a hot commodity again, thanks to the success of his Angelina Jolie-starrer Salt, which earned modest critical praise (%61 on RT) and a hefty chunk of box office change (nearly $300 million worldwide). After big-time success in the early 90s (Patriot Games, Clear And Present Danger), the filmmaker offered up two Hollywood non-starters in a row (1997’s The Saint and 1999’s The Bone Collector). He then spent the 2000s making independent dramas with a political bent to them (The Quiet American, Rabbit-Proof Fence and Catch A Fire). All three were impressive but criminally underseen.
Now he’s got offers coming in for fare like Hunter Killer, an action-thriller based on an unpublished novel, titled Firing Point, by Don Keith and George Wallace. The plot concerns “an American submarine commander and a Navy SEAL team, who join forces to rescue a Russian president in danger of being overthrown in a coup led by a renegade admiral” [Screen Rant].
That’s weird, that sounds a lot like one of the two Jack Ryan films Noyce didn’t direct: John McTiernan’s The Hunt For Red October. Maybe the old guy wants to show the current inmate what his version of the film would’ve looked like. Either way, it’s clear Noyce still knows how to shoot action, and, in that regard, this project seems right up his alley.
[photo above courtesy of Steve Carty]
Which Phillip Noyce do you prefer? Indie Noyce or blockbuster Noyce?