John Cusack, seen here in 1989′s Fat Man and Little Boy, will return to WW II in Shanghai.
Casting directors, who are not on strike, gamely soldier on as if these movies are going to get made…someday (someone’s got to do an all-improv movie. It’s coming. I’m telling you. And it’s going to be ugly).
Indie favorite Mark Ruffalo is going the Martin Scorsese route, signing on for Shutter Island. Leonardo DiCaprio also stars in the adaptation of a Dennis Lehane novel (Lehane’s novels also provided the fodder for the widely praised films Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone. Next up: an adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s grocery shopping list).
CinemaBlend describes the plot thusly:
It’s a period piece set in 1954 and has DiCaprio and Ruffalo playing U.S. Marshalls named Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule respectively. Daniels and Aule investigate the disappearance of a criminally insane murderess. She’s hiding in a remote place in Massachusetts named Shutter Island.
(Massachusetts as a setting is another tip that it’s a Lehane novel. Lehane is to Massachusetts what Scorsese is to New York. Or was to New York, but recently has been to Massachusetts. But he’ll film it in New York. Don’t worry, you’ll sort it all out and there will be lots of ’50s classic tunes on the soundtrack, with possibly a flash forward to the ’60s so Scorsese can get in the requisite Stones track.)
Another actor is doing the period piece thing–John Cusack will star in Shanghai (hopefully there won’t be a Shanghai Surprise), reuniting with his 1408 director Mikael Hafstrom. Here’s the story, again, via CinemaBlend:
Variety says Shanghai is about an American (presumably Cusack) who is in the titular Chinese city right before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. At that time, the Japanese Army occupied Shanghai and Cusack’s character will try to solve a murder and also falls in love for good measure. The love interest will be played by Chinese actress Gong Li.
Hooray for John Cusack, taking a break from the single dad coping thing (Martian Child, Grace is Gone). Hopefully this will work out, but if nothing else, I’m betting on some good costumes.
I just watched Fat man Little boy the other day. It’s been a long long time since I’ve seen it. For the life of me, I can not understand, with all of our wealth and intelligence, why can’t we solve problems without hurting anyone?? Can somebody answer that question. It seems so adolescent. We need to put classes in our schools called, “How to solve problems without hurting people.” I mean come on. Our we so stupid that history has to keep repeating itself because we can not figure out how to solve problems without hurting people. ANTI-WAR. pro-life.
Karen, I appreciate your passion about your views, but I’m afraid I had to delete your last comment because this is a film site, not a political site. We would be glad to hear your ideas and feelings on movies here.