Movie Muser

It’s all star cast time, as Variety reports that Brad Pitt, Christian Bale and Ryan Gosling are teaming up for the financial drama, The Big Short. Pitt also has his producer hat on for the movie, which will be his second adaptation of a Michael Lewis non-fiction book, following Moneyball.

Part of the reason for the starry line-up isn’t just down to Pitt’s involvement and Lewis’ reputation, but because it will be one of the first studio movies directly about the financial crash in the 2000s. Many have noticed that despite the global ramifications of the credit crunch and its fallout, Hollywood has generally only dealt with it obliquely. Even those films which appear to deal with it, such as The Wolf Of Wall Street, have tended to look at individuals more than the machine itself.

However Lewis ‘book tells the story of the build-up of the housing and credit bubble during the 2000s that led to the financial crisis of 2007-2010’.

Some have suggested Tinsel Town’s reluctance to handle it directly is due to the fact the studios rely on many of the institutions implicated in the crash for funding and financial ‘expertise’, and so haven’t wanted to be too critical. However Paramount is planning to back The Big Short.

It’s expected more major talent will sign up, as it’s planned as a Traffic-style ensemble tale, with lots of characters all who have a roughly similar sized role. However at the moment it’s not known currently involved actors will play.

Adam McKay, who’s best known for his comedy work with Will Ferrell (such as Anchorman, The Other Guys and Step Brothers), is set to write and direct. It’s not clear when it will shoot.

David Fincher, Ben Affleck and writer Gillian Flynn must have had a great time working together on Gone Girl, as THR reports they’re reuniting for a new movie – a remake of the classic Strangers On A Train.

Hitchcock’s 1951 movie – which was based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel – starred Farley Granger as a pro-tennis player who meets a man on a train and they realise they may  have the perfect way to help one another – each wants another person dead, so if they kill each other’s victims it’ll make it far harder for the police to catch them.

However when the tennis player has second thoughts, he not only has to deal with being the number one suspect in the murder his fellow conspirator did commit, but also the fact the other man is mad and rather dangerous.

It’s suggested the new version will update the story somewhat, but Affleck will play someone loosely based on the tennis player. Flynn will write the script with Fincher down to direct. It’s not clear when it might shoot.

While GI Joe: The Rise Of Cobra was seen as a bit of a failure that many thought would doom he franchise before it started, the slightly belated follow-up, GI Joe: Retaliation, was better received (although to be honest, not massive more successful at the box office).

It was good enough to ensure a third film was put in development and now it may have found a director, as THR reports that Paramount and producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura are in talks with DJ Caruso to helm. Initially Jon M. Chu, who made Retaliation, was set to return, but he ended up stepping away, as did Martin Campbell, who was briefly in talks for the film.

Little is known about the plot or which characters might return, although previous suggestions have said they may be trying to find a way to bring Channing Tatum back, despite what happened in Retaliation. Hopefully we’ll know more soon.