Rob Reiner‘s last box office hit was a decade ago with “The Bucket List,” but you’d arguably have to go back to the 1990s to find his last good film. In more recent years, he’s made a string of indies (“Flipped,” “The Magic Of Belle Isle,” “And So It Goes,” “Being Charlie“) that have been critical and commercial misfires, but he has one movie on the horizon that will hopefully see him get his mojo back: “LBJ.” Yep, in case you didn’t get your cinematic fill of Lyndon B. Johnson with the Bryan Cranston-starring “All The Way,” Reiner’s pic will have Woody Harrelson in the title role, and it seems the actor really enjoyed his time with the director, because he’s ready for another.
Deadline reports that Harrelson has signed up to star in “Shock And Awe,” which will have Reiner directing. Penned by “LBJ” scribe Joey Hartsone, the Iraq war drama will follow a group of journalists who question the Bush administration’s position that Saddam Hussein is sitting on a cache of weapons of mass destruction. So, “Spotlight” but for the Iraq war? Certainly, the premise is powerful, particularly in the wake of recent Chilcott Report which revealed the troubling shortcomings by the U.S. and U.K. governments as they prepared for that war. But Reiner will have to go a long way to proving he’s the right guy for the job, and it’ll start with “LBJ” — let’s see if he’s back on track with that one.
“Shock And Awe” is financed and will start production this year.