Don’t worry, the world hasn’t turned upsidedown. The Coen Brothers may have written a script called Gambit, but it isn’t the X-Men spin-off (the mooted superhero movie starring Taylor Kitsch’s character from Wolverine is pretty much dead). No, the Coens’ one is a remake of a 1966 British film that starred Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine.
The movie has been in the works for years, but for one reason or another, it’s never actually gone into production. However it may now get new life as Deadline is reporting that Mr and Mrs Smith director Doug Liman is circling the movie.
In the original Caine played a cat burglar who tries to rob a billionaire of his priceless statue and enlists the help of a waitress who is a dead ringer for the victim’s late wife. While the burglar has carefully planned the job in his head, the execution is complicated by his relationship with his pretty accomplice.
However while Liman is interested, he’s also got a couple of other movies on his plate, and is yet to decide which one of them to make next. He’s also attached to a film about a moon mission (starring Jake Gyllenhaal), a movie about the Aticca prison riots and a Three Musketeers do-over, any of which could be the film he directs next.
Before he decides, his main job is preparing to premiere his new movie, Fair Game, in competition at Cannes. That film is about Valerie Plame,whose covert CIA status was leaked by the Bush Administration after her husband, Joseph Wilson, began writing op-ed pieces charging that intelligence on weapons of mass destruction was manipulated to sell the invasion of Iraq. US distribution rights on Fair Game have just been picked up by Summit, which will be hoping the movie does well at the French festival.