If, as the buzz seems to indicate, Morgan Freeman will be nominated for an Oscar for playing Nelson Mandela in Invictus, there’s a good chance he’ll hear the announcement while filming in Toronto.
Freeman is reportedly part of the cast of Red, a comedically-violent tale taken from a three-part comic book series, about a former hit-man (Bruce Willis), trying to stay a step ahead of the younger assassins trying to shut him up permanently.
The movie is directed by Robert Schwentke, who also directed The Time Traveler’s Wife in Hogtown. Red is scheduled to shoot from early January to early March. Also in the cast: Helen Mirren, with John C. Reilly and Mary-Louise Parker reportedly near signing on as well.
FANTASTIC FUTURE: Is break-the-bank director James Cameron thinking small for his next movie?
Yes — and no. The Canadian-born filmmaker confirms he’s working on a screenplay for a remake of the 1966 science-fiction classic Fantastic Voyage, about a miniaturized mission into a human body.
“It’s quite different, but it’s got enough of the original story that you still recognize it,” he says. “But that’s not for me to direct. That’s just to produce.”
So what’s next for Cameron, since he’s said he won’t wait another 12 years to make a follow-up to this weekend’s Avatar?
Aside from the inevitable Avatar sequel — which could very well supersede everything else — he’s long been linked to Battle Angel Alita, an adaptation of the futuristic Japanese manga about an amnesiac female cyborg in a dystopian future. In fact, for a number of years, it was believed this would be his first post-Titanic, 3D project, until he opted to helm Avatar instead.
“Battle Angel is one of the films I’ll be considering when I decide what I’m going to do next.”
GHOST OF A CHANCE: Thanks to the vampires of Twilight, we’ll all soon get to see the thriller Roman Polanski was finishing from his prison cell.
Summit Entertainment, flush with cash from the teen vampire franchise, has announced it will distribute Polanski’s The Ghost Writer, starring Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor, during the first half of 2010.
Brosnan stars as a controversial former British prime minister — think Tony Blair — who is writing his memoirs with the aid of a hired gun (McGregor).
The simple — and lucrative — job turns dangerous when the ghost writer begins uncovering some unsavoury secrets.
