Some projects come out of nowhere, but most are long in development before they go into production - in some cases it takes literally decades. Today, two projects which have been rumoured or in the works for many years have finally been given the green light.
Variety reports that the novel "A Scanner Darkly" by Philip K. Dick ("Minority Report", "Blade Runner") is finally going ahead. "School of Rock" Director Richard Linklater is in negotiations to helm the feature which will star Keanu Reeves and be produced by the Clooney/Soderbergh production company Section 8.
Warner Independent Pictures will distribute the project which like Linklater's "Waking Life" will be shot live-action and then animated over. Linklater did the most recent draft of the script which follows undercover agents who change their faces along with their identities. Reeves plays one such officer, and his liberal ingestion of the drug Substance D causes him to develop a split personality.
Meanwhile "The Good Shepherd" is also finally going ahead this October. Universal Pictures reached a co-financing agreement with Initial Entertainment Group. Universal will handle domestic distribution and Initial will take foreign in the split-rights deal - thus enabling the project to get a green light.
Robert DeNiro will direct and Leonardo DiCaprio will star in this drama about a Yale grad recruited as one of the founders of the CIA. Character is said to be based on the legendarily shrewd but paranoid counterintelligence chief James Jesus Angleton and the story's timespan covers 40 years.
A late 2005 release looks to be targeted for both films.
Thanks to 'FanHalen' & 'KarlChilders'.
