Kathryn Bigelow’s highly anticipated drug parable set in the infamous ‘triple frontier’ in South America now looks to be kicking into gear with the helmer, writer Mark Boal and producer Grant Hill evidently in the process of scouting locations, pictured here at Brazil’s Iguaçu Falls.
Brazilian production company Nation Filmes, who’ll be collaborating with Paramount for the production, unveiled the news of the team’s visit with the iconic waterfalls here reportedly set to serve as one of many shooting locations. Furthermore, Nation also note that project has shed its working title, “Triple Frontier,” and is now going by the name of “Sleeping Dogs” — also the title of a 1977 Roger Donaldson film starring Sam Neill. Coincidence? That political thriller was tinged with action elements and followed the story a man who finds himself involved in a waging war between an industrial resistance movement and special police forces.
Last we heard, Bigelow and Paramount had allegedly been or was set to discuss the project with a plethora of thespians including Sean Penn, Will Smith, Javier Bardem and Christian Bale for what has been described as a “Traffic”-esque drug parable. It was also revealed that the film would be utilizing the same “raw and visceral visual style” of “The Hurt Locker” and will be somewhat of a “a Spanish-language variation” of that film due to its setting in ‘la triple frontera,’ where the Igazu and Parana rivers converge at the border of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil making it a haven for criminal activity.
Production is noted to be aiming for a December/January start; a date that was also in a leaked Paramount email. The project will, of course, excitingly mark Bigelow and Boal’s first venture back into the world of cinema since their staggering success with ‘Hurt Locker,’ though Bigelow has shot a HBO pilot for the John Logan-scripted light drama “The Miraculous Year.” [Cinematorio]