“The Exorcist” and “The French Connection” filmmaker William Friedkin, whose last narrative film was 2011’s “Killer Joe,” has settled on his next project.
Kiefer Sutherland will lead the cast as Lt. Commander Queeg in “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial” which will use a 50-year-old play script written by Herman Wouk based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
In the original work, a WW2 naval officer stands trial for mutiny for taking command from a ship captain he feels is acting in an unstable fashion – endangering both the ship and its crew.
Humphrey Bogart led the 1954 film adaptation of the novel. Famed actor/filmmaker Charles Laughton directed the stage play, which opened a few months before that film. Brad Davis led a 1988 Robert Altman-directed telemovie which, like the Friedkin film, will use the play as the source rather than the novel.
However, Friedkin’s film will deliver some updates, switching the setting to contemporary times and the incident happening around the Gulf of Hormuz and the Straits of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean.
Filming aims to begin in January, with casting underway. Annabelle Dunne and Matt Parker are producing.
Source: Deadline
