One of the sensations of Sundance has been Jack Goes Boating, Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s directorial debut. While at the event, Hoffman and his Cooper’s Town production company partner, Emily Ziff, took the time to announce their upcoming projects, the main one of which is The Well, which will star Guy Pearce and Mary-Louise Parker, with Hoffman producing.
Although details of the story are being kept under wraps, Variety reports that writer/director Tim Guinee’s film, “revolves around a well-to-do Manhattan couple whose obsessive pursuit of salvation ultimately leads to destruction”. Goodness knows what that actually means, as it could be applied to just about anything.
The film will be Guinee’s directorial debut. He’s best known as the sort of actor where you know the face even if you don’t know the name, having appeared in the likes of Courage Under Fire, Blade, Ladder 49 and Iron Man (as well as the upcoming Iron Man 2), along with all sorts of TV series. As yet, the film hasn’t secured funding, so it might be a while before it goes into production.
The same Variety report also hints that Hoffman may be up for the role Mr Crumpacker And The Man From The Letter, another movie from his production company. The film started in the Sundance filmmaking labs as a project by writer/director Kazuo Ohno, which Hoffman took part in. If the film does go ahead (it’s at the very early stages, so it may get lost in the mix), Hoffman would play an overbearing boss looking for the meaning of life, even though he lacks the capacity for introspection.