ARGO is riding high right now on some solid, very well-deserved box office returns and a bevy of positive reviews, which makes this the perfect time for those involved to negotiate their next projects. And negotiate they are, with screenwriter Chris Terrio having successfully pitched an untitled crime film to ARGO producers George Clooney and Grant Heslov that has only been described as “an original story set in the world of New York criminal syndicates.” Clooney is also attached to star, which is a big coup even for a screenwriter coming off of a film like ARGO.
It seems that the three have in turn successfully pitched the project to director Paul Greengrass (THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM, UNITED 93), who is currently on board to both produce and direct. Now, even though Clooney and Greengrass are only attached to star and direct at this time, I can’t imagine that funding will be too difficult to secure from even the most reserved of studios considering the perfect storm of talent at play here. And while Greengrass’ off-again-on-again Martin Luther King project MEMPHIS seems to be “on again,” I wouldn’t be surprised if he switches tracks to a more sure thing so that MEMPHIS can really have the opportunity to solidify its position of “actually finally happening.”
Whatever happens, hopefully we’ll be able to score some concrete details soon. In the meantime, you can catch Clooney in Alfonso Cuaron’s sci-fi project GRAVTY sometime in 2013 and Paul Greengrass’ Somali pirate drama CAPTAIN PHILLIPS starring Tom Hanks on October 11th, 2013.