Watts eyes action movie ‘Boss Level’ with Mel Gibson – Goldberg joins Haddish in Perry’s ‘List’
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LOS ANGELES, March 27, (RTRS): Naomi Watts is in negotiations to join Frank Grillo and Mel Gibson in the Joe Carnahan action pic “Boss Level,” sources tell Variety.
Carnahan is directing from a script penned by the Borey Brothers. Will Sasso is also joining the cast.
Grillo will play a retired special forces veteran trapped in a never-ending loop, resulting in his death every day. Details regarding who Watts will be playing are unknown.
The film will be financed by Emmett/Furla/Oasis, and produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian, and Randall Emmett and George Furla. Production companies are Emmett/Furla/Oasis, Di Bonaventura Pictures, Carnahan and Grillo’s War Party, and Scott Free.
Highland Film Group has come on board to handle international rights.
Watts was most recently seen in Focus’ “The Book of Henry,” which also stars Jacob Tremblay, and Lionsgate’s “The Glass Castle” opposite Brie Larson. Her drama “Ophelia,” a reimagining of “Hamlet” told from the prospective of the titular character’s lover, premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Watts played Gertrude in the film.
Whoopi Goldberg will star with Tiffany Haddish, Tika Sumpter and Omari Hardwick in Tyler Perry’s comedy “The List.”
Perry is directing and producing from his own script. Paramount Players has already set a Nov 2 release date for the film.
Perry made the announcement on ABC’s talk show “The View,” which Goldberg has moderated for more than a decade.
Haddish will portray a wild woman who gets released from prison and reunites with her sister, played by Sumpter. Sumpter’s character is in an online relationship with a man that may be “catfishing” her.
Paramount Pictures launched Paramount Players in June, with veteran producer and executive Brian Robbins in charge. Robbins is working with Viacom’s Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, and BET to generate projects, while the new division focuses on contemporary properties.
Rising British comedian and actor Jack Whitehall will join Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt in Disney’s “The Jungle Cruise,” sources tell Variety.
Whitehall will play Blunt’s brother in the film — a key role in the storyline.
Jaume Collet-Serra is on board to direct the movie based on the classic theme park attraction, which operates in several Disney Parks across the globe and takes guests on a guided tour through the rivers of the world. Oscar nominee Michael Green (“Logan”) penned the most recent draft of the script. He rewrote a screenplay by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay.
Disney plans to develop the film as a possible franchise in the vein of its billion-dollar “Pirates of the Caribbean” series.
Kevin Bacon is producing and starring in the horror-thriller “You Should Have Left,” with David Koepp directing from his own script for Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions.
The company is planning to start shooting later this year. The project is based on Daniel Kehlmann’s novel, which centers on a screenwriter in a remote house in the Alps working on a sequel to his hit film. The writer begins to lose his bearings thanks to unexplained occurrences. The book was published in 2017.
Bacon brought the project to Koepp and the duo optioned it. Bacon and Koepp collaborated on the 1999 supernatural thriller “Stir of Echoes.” Koepp has writing credits on “Jurassic Park” and “Spider-Man” and directing credits on “The Trigger Effect” and “Secret Window.”
Gina Rodriguez will be starring in yet another “Carmen Sandiego” project for Netflix.
The “Jane the Virgin” star will topline a live-action film for the steamer. Rodriguez will star in and produce the movie through her I Can and I Will Productions, alongside producers Kevin Misher and Caroline Fraser. Andy Berman of Misher Films is the executive producer.
Rodriguez is also voicing the title character in Netflix’s upcoming animated “Carmen Sandiego” series, which will start streaming in 2019.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is the owner of the “Carmen Sandiego” property. Fraser is the head of HMH Productions and the executive producer of the “Carmen Sandiego” Netflix original series and feature film. A line of books from HMH featuring Sandiego will launch in 2019 timed to the series debut.
The movie will be a standalone Carmen Sandiego adventure. No writer or director is attached to the pic yet.
“Carmen Sandiego” is an educational computer game franchise that follows Sandiego as she travels across the world stealing national treasure. Sandiego has been the main antagonist of several games, including “Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?” In addition, she was featured in multiple books, live-action game shows, and the animated series “Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego,” which ran for 40 episodes between 1994 and 1998.
Rodriguez is set to produce and topline the film “Someone Great” for Netflix. She also has a starring role in Sony’s “Miss Bala,” which hits theaters on Jan 25, 2019. Rodriguez continues to star in CW’s “Jane the Virgin.”
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