Paul Fenton/ZUMAPress.comIs Brad Pitt ready to be one of Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards?
The Oscar-winning writer-director has confirmed he will start production in October on his long-gestating World War II epic, Inglorious Bastards. And while there's been no official announcement, Pitt's name has surfaced for one of the leads.
Per the Hollywood Reporter, Tarantino plans to do the bulk of the shooting in Europe and hopes to finish the war drama in time to submit to next May's Cannes Film Festival. That would seem to fit Pitt's schedule, having set up a homebase in France awaiting Angelina Jolie's birth.
As they've done for all Tarantino's past films, Harvey and Bob Weinstein will oversee production and distribution via their Weinstein Company.
Inglorious Bastards tells the Dirty Dozen-like tale of a ragtag group of ne'er-do-well U.S. soldiers who, to avoid facing a firing squad, accept a high-risk mission to go behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied France.
While Pitt isn't confirmed yet, Tarantino regulars Tim Roth and Michael Madsen are already onboard.
The Pulp Fiction filmmaker obtained the title and remake rights to Enzo Castellari's 1978 film of the same name, but his screenplay is believed to be more of a reimagining than a straight redo.
Speaking of war movie remakes, MGM is moving forward with an updated version of John Milius' 1984 Cold War drama Red Dawn, about a group of teens who rebuff a commie invasion of America. The studio has recruited Red Eye screenwriter Carl Ellsworth to pen a post-9/11 take on the story.
Meanwhile, fanboys/girls will be psyched to know that MGM has given the go-ahead for production on The Cabin in the Woods, cowritten by Buffy the Vampire Slayer mastermind Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard, who penned the January monster movie Cloverfield. Goddard will direct and Whedon will produce. The plot details are being kept top secret.
Here are the day's other big deals, per the trades:
- Sam Shepard, Rosanna Arquette, Jordi Molla and French actor Vincent Perez have come aboard Run for Her Life, a thriller rabout illegal organ transplants costarring Dermot Mulroney and Diane Kruger. Shepard will play a district attorney who undergoes an illegal heart transplant. Arquette will essay the role of a pediatrician who consults with Mulroney and Kruger's character, who are looking for a heart transplant for their daughter. Filming is now underway in Mexico.
- Brie Larson has been tapped to costar opposite Toni Collette in Showtime's new series The United States of Tara, created by Oscar-winning Juno writer Diablo Cody. She will play Kate, the 17-year-old daughter of Tara (Collette), a woman who struggles with dissociatve identity disorder. Production kicks off this summer in Los Angeles.
- Country Music Television has ordered Larry the Cable Guy's Star-Studded Christmas Extravaganza, the funnyman's spin on those holiday variety shows of yore. Lewis Black, Fred Willard and Toby Keith are all set to appear.