Joel Edgerton may have lost the lead role in Universal's new Bourne film, but he'll get to play an assassin of sorts nonetheless as The LA Times reports that the Aussie will star in Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow's untitled Osama bin Laden film. The project was originally conceived as a smaller-scale production, but has expanded into an in-demand actioner in light of Sunday's take-down of the vile Al-Qaeda leader.
Bigelow re-teams with her Hurt Locker writer Mark Boal (who also took home statues for the 2010 Best Picture winner) for the film, which is an international thriller about a team of Black Ops soldiers. The source indicates that the script is being updated to conclude with Sunday's secretive operation that led to the killing of the man behind the September 11th attacks. Production should begin over the summer, leaving the filmmakers enough time to shoot and cut most of the picture before they begin work on the much larger ensemble action thriller Triple Frontier, which is eying only A-listers like Tom Hanks and Johnny Depp among others.
Edgerton has a gritty look and appeal, which got him roles in films like Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and Smokin' Aces and will aid him in realistically portraying a Black Ops soldier. He won acclaim for his role in last year's Animal Kingdom and is also supposed to be good opposite Tom Hardy in Warrior, the family boxing drama that hits theaters later this year.
Source: The LA Times