Man, Luc Besson really didn't take to retirement, did he? While his collaboration with Angelina Jolie seemingly never came to pass, Besson recently turned to a stack of scripts he's written in a co-financing partnership between Besson's EuroCorp and Relativity Pictures, getting support for two new Besson-ian efforts.
The first and most prominent, "Malativa," finds Robert De Niro starring as a former gangster now living in Normandy with his family under Witness Protection. Naturally, things don't go well, as the project is described as a gangster thriller. It's based on the book "Badfellas" from Tonino Benacquista, and various synopses describe the material as being light, and more in-tune with "The Sopranos." Though we hope the scene where the protagonist is invivted to host a library film screening of "Goodfellas" doesn't make the final cut. Because, c'mon. The film begins shooting August 14th.
The other script, which Besson has no intentions to direct as of yet, is "Three Days To Kill," from Besson and co-writer Adi Hasak. While they're only using a working title thus far, with no synopsis, it's being compared to the Besson-produced "Taken" only with "lots of humor." Because if there's anything the my-daughter-is-sold-to-a-sex-trafficking-ring story is missing is some laffs! [Variety]