What to make of director Doug Liman. We’ve said it several times now, the man seems torn by two opposing forces inside. One that makes fluff films (“Jumper,” “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”) and one that wants to make serious films like “Fair Game” and the “Attica” prison riots picture. “The Bourne Identity” is still arguably the best Bourne of the trilogy, but his resume has been a consistent mix of escapist entertainment and intelligent filmmaking.
But it seems this time, he’s going to follow up something weighty (“Fair Game”) with a project a bit more dynamic. Variety reports that after flirting with directing a “Three Musketeers“ film (more fluff), the filmmaker has decided to direct the time-travel actioner “All You Need Is Kill,” an adaptation of the Hiroshi Sakurazaka novel, for Warner Bros. (‘Musketeers’ was put on hold when a competing film went into production first).
Liman has attached himself to more projects this year than any other director out there, save Ridley Scott, who announces new films like he changes underwear. He’s already attached to helm Monte Reel’s non-fiction book “The Last of the Tribe: The Epic Quest to Save a Lone Man in the Amazon,” talk of a “Jumper 2” has reared its head lately (whether he’ll direct remains to be seen), and he could direct a Coen Brothers-scripted “Gambit” film (fortunately for us “Mr. & Mrs. Smith 2” is dead and he already passed on a “Man From U.N.C.L.E” film this year). How about that untitled moon project with Jake Gyllenhaal? Duncan Jones‘ “Moon” probably made it obsolete.
As we wrote earlier this year, the plot is (ironically), not a million miles away from Jones’ upcoming “Source Code,” and follows a soldier in an alien war who finds himself living his last day in battle over and over again after being caught in a time loop, becoming a better soldier along the way. The studio met with several directors recently, including Sam Raimi, before he signed on to “Oz: The Great and Powerful,” but Liman obviously grabbed the gig.
