Dwayne Johnson better watch out because Mel Gibson is ready to take the throne of Hollywood’s busiest actor. Despite a controversial last decade or so, Gibson has been on a tear, as of late, landing multiple directing gigs and high-profile acting roles. And his latest role pairs him up with one of the biggest up-and-comers, as well as an exciting filmmaker that caught our eye last year.
Deadline is reporting that Gibson has signed on to star opposite Tye Sheridan in the upcoming film “Black Flies.” The film’s script has been listed on the prestigious Blacklist and is written by Ryan King, based on a novel by Shannon Burke. “Black Flies” follows a young paramedic (Sheridan) that is teamed up with a grizzled veteran (Gibson), as the older man shows the young buck what it’s like being a paramedic in the inner-city.
Sheridan is probably best known for his work on the not-so-great recent “X-Men” sequels and last year’s “Ready Player One.” Gibson, on the other hand, is an Academy Award winner and has a very big slate of projects ahead of him including work with Mark Wahlberg (on two films), Charlie Hunnam, and a ‘Wild Bunch’ remake that he’s writing and directing, just to name a few.
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As mentioned, it’s not just Gibson and Sheridan that have caught our eye with “Black Flies.” The film is set to be directed by Jean-Stephane Sauvaire. The filmmaker wowed us last year with the highly-underrated film “A Prayer Before Dawn,” and we’ve been excited to see what he has up his sleeve next. And working with these two talented actors seems like it could be a great fit for Sauvaire.
There’s no release date set for “Black Flies,” as the producers are taking the project to Berlin to sell to distributors at the film festival. However, that shouldn’t be a tough sell at all, with the talent pooled together here. Production is slated to begin in the second quarter of 2019.