Young Aussie Callan McAuliffe didn’t really get the career boost from I Am Number Four that he was hoping for, but he’ll be hoping he gets more notice this summer playing the younger version of Leo DiCaprio’s title character in Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby.
Now he’s got a new film in the offing, as Variety reports that he’s signed up for Kite, based on a Japanese anime film. India Eisley will also star in the movie, joining the previously cast Samuel L. Jackson.
The film is about a young woman who lives in a failed nation state after the financial collapse, where a corrupt security force profits on the trafficking of young women. When her policeman father is killed, she vows to track the murderer down with the help of his ex-partner. In the original anime, she is initially ‘helped’ by the two corrupt cops on the case of the double homicide, Akai and Kanie, who take her in as guardians and end up turning her into an assassin.
Eisley will play the girl while McAuliffe is he childhood friend who comes to the rescue, with Jackson as the ex-partner.
There’s also been a change of director, with Ralph Ziman taking over from David R. Ellis, who tragically died early last month.