The idea of remaking the 1966 Shirley MacLaine and Michael Caine flick Gambit has been around for a long time now, but even the fact it came with a script by the Coen Brothers hasn’t been enough to get it made. Earlier this year it was being mooted as a potential project for Doug Liman, but he quickly moved on.
However now it appears it may actually get made, with The Last Station’s Michael Hoffman stepping up to direct, and financing found from a company called Crime Scene Pictures. Deadline says the movie will shoot in London next May.
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. Casting will begin shortly.
In case you’re wondering, this isn’t the first movie the Coens have written but not directed, although it will be the first where they haven’t at least been somehow connected to the director. They also wrote the largely forgotten Crimewave, which was helmed by their old college buddy Sam Raimi (Raimi also worked on the Coen’s Hudsucker Proxy), while Ethan Coen co-wrote The Naked Man, which was directed by their frequent storyboard artist, J. Todd Anderson.