With “Brothers” barely a week into its theatrical release (btw, we really liked it), director Jim Sheridan is ready to talk about he’s working on next. The dudes over at Dark Horizons managed to get the director to chat about the handful of projects that his name has been attached to over the past little while to sort out the wheat from the chaff.
So, here’s the quick rundown and you can read the complete details right here:
“Dreamhouse” – This is the next one that’s going to go in front of cameras, and Sheridan hopes to get things rolling in February (which pretty much means he’s not going to be hosting any Oscar cocktail parties for “Brothers”). As we previously reported, the psychological thriller will star Daniel Craig and is about a family who move to a house in a small New England town and find out it was the scene of a murder. It’s scripted by relative unknown David Loucka, who also wrote the 1989 Michael Keaton comedy “The Dream Team.” It’s a straight up genre flick, but let’s hope it’s not strictly a cash project like “Get Rich Or Die Tryin’.”
“I, Claudius” – Based on the classic 1934 novel by Robert Graves, and best known as a sprawling ten-part BBC production, Sheridan is still eager to bring this to the big screen. He’s finished a script, but he still needs to tweak it and get some actors on board. Even though the film takes place in Ancient Rome, as most of the sets are interiors, cost actually won’t be too much of an issue. However, making it engaging for audiences who will need the story wrapped up in two hours instead of two weeks, will pose a challenge but Sheridan talks of Claudius being a bit more “proactive” in his version.
“Black Mass” – The story of the famously ruthless Whitey Bulger who built up the Winter Hill Gang is an Irish gangster flick that Sheridan is “working on.”
“Sheriff Street” – Sheridan’s dream project based on his experiences growing up in Ireland has been kicking around for a while, but needs financial backing before it can get off the ground.
“Emerald City” – Another Irish gangster flick , this time based in New York’s Hell Kitchen, is a project that Sheridan has “chilled out on.” We guess that unless you’re Martin Scorsese, one gangster flick on the go at a time, is enough.
“Ikiru” – “No, not happening.” THANK GOD. The remake of Akira Kurosawa’s fable about an aging bureaucrat whose perspective on life changes after being diagnosed with cancer, has long bounced around Hollywood, with names like Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks being attached at one point (::shudder::). The original is fantastic, but doesn’t need to be put through the Hollywood schmaltz machine or be scored to U2. We’re kind of glad Sheridan is walking away from it.
So there you have it, now will someone please rundown the list of “attached” projects with Ridley Scott and David Fincher too?