In a busy news week for on- and off-screen buddies, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are said to be about to sign a first-look deal with Warner Bros. The deal would put the pair in a producing partnership at the studio where Affleck recently directed and co-wrote “The Town.” Further, news of a project the BFFs could work on at Warners surfaced Thursday when it was reported that the studio may be going forward with a scandalous tale entitled “The Trade.” That film tells the true story of two New York Yankees pitchers who swapped wives in the sexually hedonistic 1970s. According to Deadline.com, Affleck has become attached to direct and possibly star in the film as one of the cavorting ball players while Damon could play the other.
With Shutter Island premiering at the Berlin Film Festival last weekend, ahead of its US debut in theaters on Friday, Martin Scorsese/Robert De Niro news was in no short supply this week. The director told press in Berlin that he and his longtime collaborator De Niro are talking about revisiting the mobster world with a project “from the vantage point of older men looking back.” That project would have nothing to do, it seems, with other rumors flying around Berlin that said Scorsese and De Niro would reteam for a new take on Taxi Driver. Curiosity was certainly piqued, however, when it was said that controversial Danish director Lars von Trier was planning to set Scorsese a challenge: remake Taxi Driver with a set of hurdles placed in his way à la an experiment von Trier previously conducted with Jorgan Leth which ultimately became “The Five Obstructions.” My colleagues over at ScreenDaily.com contacted von Trier’s business partner who kyboshed the rumors as “rubbish,” however. In other De Niro news, he’s stepping out of police thriller “Son of No One” only to be replaced by his Heat and Righteous Kill co-star Al Pacino. That film, written by director Dito Montiel, is about a young cop assigned to a precinct in the working-class neighborhood where he grew up only to see an old secret resurface and threaten his life and family. Terrence Howard, Ray Liotta and Katie Holmes are in the process of joining the cast while Channing Tatum has been approached to play the lead, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Finally, in other buddy news, it looks like Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson have landed new projects. Stiller is said to be replacing Eddie Murphy in a film once called “Trump Heist” but now perhaps to be known as “Tower Heist.” The film, about a group of con men looking to swindle the residents of New York’s Trump Tower is reportedly being polished by Noah Baumbach who just directed Stiller in “Greenberg.” Meanwhile, Stiller’s real-life pal and frequent co-star, Wilson, is said to be joining the latest project from Woody Allen. There are no details on the story, nor what role Wilson would play, but Allen is planning a summer shoot which will, in all likelihood, take place in Paris – which in turn is conveniently the home of France’s first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who late last year said she had accepted a role in Allen’s next picture.
