One of the biggest surprises of last year’s awards season was Oren Moverman’s “The Messenger,” which seemingly came from nowhere to pick up nearly unanimously terrific reviews. While this writer never saw it (amazingly, there’s no UK release set, even after the film picked up a pair of Oscar nominations — can someone sort that out, please?), most of The Playlist staff who did catch it loved it, and Moverman’s quickly become someone that we’re keen to keep an eye on.
The Israeli-born director is developing a biopic of Kurt Cobain at Universal, but first up is the James Ellroy-penned cop drama “Rampart,” set against the background of the real-life scandal involving the LAPD anti-gang squad, in which over 70 officers were implicated. We already knew that Moverman would be reuniting with his “Messenger” stars Woody Harrelson, who’ll play the lead, a conflicted cop, and Ben Foster, and is also set to rescue Ice Cube from family movie hell — the former NWA member is playing a homicide detective who’s investigating Harrelson’s character.
Now, Variety brings news that the film is being financed in full by new company Amalgam Features, and that an impressive ensemble have joined the cast in addition to Harrelson, Foster and Cube. Steve Buscemi, Anne Heche, Cynthia Nixon, Sigourney Weaver and Robin Wright have all joined the cast in as-yet unknown roles.
It’s a very strong line-up (and less man-heavy than we’d have assumed otherwise for a cop drama), and the teaming of Moverman and Ellroy, probably the greatest living American crime writer, is an incredibly enticing one. So long as it doesn’t feel as watered down as Ron Shelton’s “Dark Blue,” which also came from an Ellroy script, this’ll be one we’re looking forward to a great deal. Filming kicks off in LA, as previously rumored, on October 25th.
