I really really enjoy a lot of Antoine Fuqua’s work. I thought Brooklyn’s Finest was visceral and highly enjoyable from beginning to end and have been wondering for quite a while when the guy would finally get around to working on another project. He’s had his name associated with a plethora of projects since the release of Brooklyn’s Finest but not a single one has shown any noticeable traction toward actually turning into a film. Well, the latest project to get his name attached has been announced and I think this one may actually enter production sometime soon.
Source: Empire News
Over the last year or so his name has come up connected to Prisoners, Escobar, Southpaw, The Tomb, Storming Las Vegas, Afterburn, a Chinese historical epic and a biopic of Tupac Shakur. None of them have come to fruition as his follow-up to Brooklyn’s Finest though, and Fuqua is now attached to Hunter Killer, which is ready to go at Relativity, but in need of a director sharp-ish since Philip Noyce dropped out.
The film has been developing for some time – it was originally earmarked for Taken’s Pierre Morel before the post-Salt Noyce came aboard – so all concerned must be celebrating that it’s finally moving forward.
I have to admit that this isn’t the project that I’d like to see him prioritize. Some of you may remember that I’m pretty excited about the idea of the biopic on Tupac Shakur as Fuqua’s name was the driving force behind the movie actually progressing toward production but it seems that movie has to be put on the backburner while he handles other projects. I like Fuqua and will probably give any project he works on next a fair shake.
The book is by Don Keith and George Wallace (a real-life retired submariner; not the comedian) and the screenplay is by John Kolvenbach, Arme Schmidt, and Jamie Moss, who wrote Street Kings. There’s no cast yet, but we’d expect things to get moving quickly, since the film already has a release-date of December 2012, and a projected start-date this winter.
An interesting fact about the movie is that the book that is the source material for the movie has yet to be published, but was optioned for a film 2 yrs ago. Go figure.
