David Mamet is going to need more than a motorcade with the cast he has lined up for his upcoming JFK movie Assassination. Reports have come out that the film will star Al Pacino, John Travolta, Viggo Mortensen, Shia LaBeouf, Rebecca Pidgeon, and Courtney Love. That’s one Academy Award winner, two Oscar nominees, a BAFTA winner, Mamet’s wife, and Courtney Love! (We kid–Love is a fantastic actress and was robbed of a nod for The People vs. Larry Flynt.)
As per Deadline, Assassination “will retell the fateful murder of John F. Kennedy from the mob’s point of view, reimagining his death as a hit ordered by Chicago mob kingpin Sam Giancana as payback for JFK’s attempt to undermine the mob after they helped get him elected.” The script is co-written by Mamet and Nicholas Celozzi, who is actually Giancana’s grandnephew, which should elevate the authenticity. According to Arclight Films Chairman Gary Hamilton, “The stars have truly aligned. Assassination is a riveting and gripping thriller set in a pivotal period in American history, brilliantly crafted by Mamet – it’s an absolutely fantastic project.” The exact roles of these stars has yet to be unveiled.
David Mamet was tied to a JFK movie a decade ago called Blackbird, with Cate Blanchett set to star as a woman “who travels to Los Angeles for the funeral of her grandfather, a Hollywood visual effects artist who moonlighted for U.S. special ops agencies.” It appears, though, that that project got away for good, as Mamet has redirected his JFK interest to this one.
The JFK thriller Assassination will be David Mamet’s first big screen effort since 2008’s Redbelt, although he helmed HBO’s Phil Spector, also starring Pacino. He has two Academy Award nominations for writing The Verdict (1982) and Wag the Dog (1997), in addition to Golden Globe nods for those films and House of Games (1987), which stands as a masterpiece of the neo-noir genre.
Assassination will be offered at the Cannes market, with the 76th Cannes Film Festival beginning tomorrow and running until May 27th.
Are you looking forward to David Mamet’s JFK movie? How do you feel about the cast? Let us know in the comments section!