Though Josh Lucas has had his name at the top of
a list of rumors for the lead villain in the next Batman movie, his latest
role is something completely different.
Josh Lucas for Inspired Tale of Who Killed Daniel Pearl?
According to Variety,
Josh Lucas has been picked up to star in an untitled thriller under director
Kip Williams (Door in the Floor). The thriller will be inspired
by the Bernard-Henri Levy book titled Who Killed Daniel Pearl?
The project will be produced by Beacon CEO Charlie Lyons with production
set to begin this fall. Some of the locations beings scouted for the shoot
are Morocco, Dubai, India, Libya and Tunisia.
In the book, the French author-philosopher described his daring journey
into Pakistan to investigate the kidnapping and murder of the Wall Street
Journal correspondent. Levy is convinced Pearl may have uncovered complicity
between the Pakistani secret service and Al Qaeda.
Scripted by New York Times Magazine foreign
correspondent Peter Landesman, the film has fictionalized the Pearl character
(Beacon did not want to infringe on a film project based on a book by the
journalist's widow, Marianne Pearl). Levy, too, has been changed into an
American TV newsman who sheds his media celebrity trappings to find answers
in a terrorist hotbed.
Update:We recently received an email from biology teacher 'Shawn' who pointed out the confusion the title of this artile created:
Although it has not been made clear, I believe Mr. Lucas will not be playing the "Daniel Pearl" character as your "headline" states, but rather the American reporter who's investigating Pearl's execution. (I use "Pearl" in parentheses as the press release did indeed say they were changing names.) I would hazard this guess as that is the story in Levy's book. Pearl is not the main character but rather his murder is what drives the mystery, sort of like Harry Lime in The Third Man. Of course "Pearl" then becomes an unseen "presence" in the investigator's life, and does NOT show up alive and kicking like Mr. Lime did.
Therefore, I am assuming since Josh now has "leading man" status that he would play the main character in the film (which would be the reporter investigating Pearl's death, plus they've "Americanized" the role), as this is a role/topic that Josh has mentioned in interviews that he would like to pursue (a war journalism movie). Of course, I could be wrong, but I don't think he would play a character relegated to flashbacks, as we already know that Pearl was killed by his kidnappers. I think the investigative reporter would be the "meatier" role.
Add to Heffee!
