In the future, Andy Warhol once said, everyone will be attached to the movie “Triple Frontier” for fifteen minutes. A one-time Kathryn Bigelow project – penned by her “Hurt Locker” and “Triple Frontier” collaborator Mark Boal – the story follows the three-way border between Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil that serves as a focal point for drug trafficking. It was initially set to star Will Smith, Johnny Depp and Tom Hanks back in 2010, and never quite got over the starting line.
The project got a new lease on life in 2015, when “All Is Lost” and “A Most Violent Year” helmer J.C. Chandor came on to direct, with Channing Tatum, Tom Hardy and Mahershala Ali circling roles, only for studio Paramount to drop the project when Hardy and Tatum bailed. But Netflix came to the rescue, with Ben Affleck and Casey Affleck being courted to star, only for Ben to fall off last week.
But somehow, the project is unkillable, as Deadline now reports that another complete cast shake-up has taken place, with Ali seemingly dropping out (the trade doesn’t mention his name one way or another, but with the Oscar-winner confirmed for “True Detective” it seems like he might be out), and Mark Wahlberg, Charlie Hunnam, Garret Hedlund and Pedro Pascal coming on board.
It’s a reunion of sorts for Wahlberg and Chandor, who were originally set to work together on “Deepwater Horizon” before Chandor left that project in favor of Peter Berg. And we can see why the project has attracted Netflix’s attention, given how popular things like “Narcos” are on the service. Will this be the last shake-up for the film? It’s hoped that shooting will begin in a matter of weeks, so let’s hope, for the sake of Chandor’s sanity, that the package has finally come together, and that we’ll see the movie next year.
