The upcoming re-teaming of “The Hurt Locker” duo Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal for a South American drug parable titled “Sleeping Dogs” (previously known as “Triple Frontier”) will no doubt be a much anticipated project in the near future and has already been rumored to be attracting a number of high profiles names including Sean Penn, Will Smith, Javier Bardem and Christian Bale.
Now, however, comes a new A-list name to be linked to the project: Tom Hanks is noted to be “looking seriously” at taking one of the lead roles, which would be one of five male leads of various age who are at the center of the pic, a “Traffic”-esque tale set in the notorious, crime-ridden border region between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay known as ‘la triple frontera’ — Bigelow and Boal are pictured above at the eponymous falls on the Iguazu river, whose convergence with the Parana river separates the three countries.
The role would definitely be an interesting turn for Hanks, and continue an upcoming string of high profile projects including his own directorial and starring effort in “Larry Crowne” with Julia Roberts due out next year and a potential teaming with recent award-season successes Stephen Daldry and Sandra Bullock for an adaptation of post-9/11 novel “Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close.”
Early reports have also added that “Sleeping Dogs” will utilize the same “raw and visceral visual style” of “The Hurt Locker” and may be a Spanish-language variant of that film. Production is reportedly eying a December or January start date though, at this stage, the script is said to be not yet ready with no official dates yet. [THR/Deadline]