Hugh Jackman has confirmed that he has joined the cast of “District 9” and “Elysium” director Neill Blomkamp’s new sci-fi feature “Chappie”.
Appearing at the Zurich Film Festival, Jackman says he is headed to Johannesburg to shoot his role on the film over a couple of weeks at the beginning of next year.
The story follows a robot (voiced by Sharlto Copley) who gets stolen by two gangsters (South African rappers Ninja and Yolandi Visser) who plan to use him for their own gain.
He’s also mulling a Houdini Broadway production, and is still committed to the PT Barnum musical “The Greatest Showman on Earth” which is in development.
The Jackman casting follows a report earlier this week in The New York Times which revealed that “Boys Don’t Cry” filmmaker Kimberly Peirce was once set to direct a now abandoned murder mystery project called “Silent Star” a little over a decade ago.
Jackman, Evan Rachel Wood and Ben Kingsley were to star in the $30 million Dreamworks film about the unsolved 1922 murder case of silent film director and actor William Desmond Taylor. Said project fell apart due to financing issues.
Source: Screen Daily
