Could Rupert Wyatt And Michael Fassbender Team With Warners For ‘Londongrad’?
Rupert Wyattscored this summer withRise of the Planet of the Apes, and Fox is already moving forward with thedevelopmentof another Apes film that Wyatt is provisionally set to direct. But that sequel isn’t yet written, so Wyatt has a chance to do something else until Fox pulls together a working Apes script.
That something may beLondongrad, a Warner Bros. film about KGB spyAlexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned in 2006 and accused Russian president Vladimir Putin of masterminding the attempt on his life. Furthermore, for a star Warner Bros. is looking to another man who helped Fox this summer:X-Men: First ClassstarMichael Fassbender.
Deadlineannounces the possible deal, but doesn’t have many more details. There was a point where Mike Newell was going to make the movie (it had the titleThe Terminal Spyat one point) and theDavid Scarpascript that Wyatt would work from has been set up at Warner Bros. for almost two years. That script is based on Alan Cowell’s bookThe Terminal Spy: A True Story of Espionage Betrayal and Murder. The long synopsis posted below will give you a good idea of why this story seems ripe for the screen, but also suggests why it might have taken so much time to get there.
The question will be whether or not Wyatt and WB can get Fassbender to do the film, given that he is just about the most popular actor going at the moment, with an uncommon ability to straddle very serious fare (Shame,Hunger) and popcorn material likeX-MenandPrometheus. Fassbender is already set towork once morewithShameandHungerdirector Steve McQueen onTwelve Years a Slave, and he’s got a role in the new Jim Jarmusch film. But neither movie is likely to take up a big chunk of his calendar, so WB might be able to sign him to play Litvinenko.
There’s another Litvinenko movie in development, too, asJohn Saylesrecently toldThe Playlisthe was writing a script about spy. Granted, Sayles has done a lot of rewrite work in his time, so there’s always the chance that he’s done a pass on the Scarpa script that is in use here.
