Do you remember “This Means War“?
The project is an action-rom-com which follows two spies and best friends who fall out over a girl and for a minute, the developing film had Bradley Cooper and Reese Witherspoon attached as two of the three leads and McG scheduled to direct.
However, Bradley Cooper bailed because he had “creative concerns” and that he wasn’t happy with the script (despite some reports that he used the “scheduling conflict” euphemism with “The Hangover 2” also shooting in July).
So, project over? Hell nah, and in fact, the film seems to have come back from this set-back full force and appears to have both their male leads set with Seth Rogen and Chris Pine looking to play the bff spies according to The Wrap.
However, wording is funny, both actors are being “sought,” not both actors are circling this role because they’re both interested. Frankly, we don’t see Seth Rogen taking this one on, he was the one who convinced Jonah Hill to not take the blogger role in Michael Bay’s “Transformers: Revenge Of the Fallen,” and this does not seem like his cup of tea.
Studios want actors all the time, every production makes gigantic wishlists of actors they would love to appear (and we’ve seen some), and often those two desires are not in synch. The Wrap does bring more details about the film though and says the story “follows two best buddies whose friendship is put to the test when a woman moves into their spare room. As they fight for her affections, New York City is literally left demolished in their wake — including such landmarks as the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty.”
Makes sense as the original report said the film has big-scale action that saw “their battle escalate to mammoth proportions, with New York City demolished in their wake.” Evidently the project has been in development for over ten years at this point, with the likes of Martin Lawrence and Gore Verbinski previously attached (frankly, that’s not a good sign if Cooper bailed cause he doesn’t like a script that has had ten years to improve itself, and this report says they’re still tinkering with that script).
And more credence to our Seth Rogen posit? Apparently his buddy James Franco was offered the project and already passed. The Wrap says the newest issue of Production Weekly reports that 2oth Century Fox has also put out offers to Robert Downey Jr. and Matt Damon, and sure, of course they have. Studios always offer A-list stars what they feel are the biggest projects in town. But offer stories are tricky and sometimes they mean very little, when an actor is circling a project and or has direct interest, then we’re talking another ball game. Caveat emptor, folks. Don’t be surprised if and when both these actors aren’t onboard.
