With elderly assassin actioner “Red” looking more and more like one of the most enjoyable escapist movies of the fall, director Robert Schwentke’s star is on the rise, and over the past few weeks, he’s been linked to a number of high profile projects. He’s attached himself to the Robert Ludlum adaptation “The Osterman Weekend” and the submarine drama “Shadow Divers,” as well as being one of the handful of names in contention for “Wolverine 2,” although he dropped out of the running for that a couple of weeks back.
But the project that’s seemed for some time the most likely to be Schwentke’s next is “R.I.P.D,” an adaptation of the Dark Horse comic book about a pair of deceased detectives, one a recently murdered cop, the other a gunslinger from the Old West. Now, Deadline brings news that Schwentke has officially signed on to the project, which is set to film late next summer.
Ryan Reynolds is officially signed on to the project, which will film after body-swap comedy “The Change-Up” and spy thriller “Safe House,” but there’s no news on other casting, although Zach Galifianakis was mentioned at one stage for the other role though it seems like a long shot he’ll end up in the film. We like Schwentke and Reynolds plenty, but with The Playlist’s bete noire, producer Neal Moritz, and “Clash of the Titans” writers Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi involved behind the scenes, we’re not holding our breath for this.