With Paul W.S. Anderson’s “The Three Musketeers” underway shortly, with a surprisingly impressive cast (considering its helmer) including Christoph Waltz, Mads Mikkelsen, Matthew MacFayden, Juno Temple and Logan Lerman, it was always only a matter of time before something gave with Warner Bros’ rival version, which had Doug Liman attached to direct.
Deadline reported overnight that, with Summit’s 3D film shooting in August and set for release next April, Warner Bros, will be meeting with Liman later in the week about the future of the project as well as talk about potentially getting him behind the camera for the sci-fi actioner “All You Need Is Kill,” which writer Dante Harper wrote on spec, as an adaptation of the Hiroshi Sakurazaka novel. Whether or not Warner Bros. will shelve their ‘Musketeers’ project remains to be seen, but one scenario being batted around may find Liman shooting the swashbuckler and the sci-fi film back-to-back.
The plot, not a million miles away from Duncan Jones’ upcoming “Source Code,” 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 seems to be leading the field.
Despite the good buzz going into Cannes, Liman’s “Fair Game” came out with rather lukewarm reviews (including ours), but even so, we’re disappointed to see Liman returning to the tentpole world, which has seen rather diminishing results over time; particularly when more intriguing projects, like his pet project about the Attica prison riots, or a Coen Bros-scripted remake of “Gambit,” are sitting on the backburner.