Just ahead of kicking off production, The Weinstein Company has opted to change the title of Bradley Cooper’s upcoming drama from The Chef to Adam Jones, evidently to avoid confusion with Jon Favreau’s Chef, about a food truck owner struggling to stay afloat in his personal and professional lives. Apparently, there was some sort of legal dispute behind the scenes, including a cease-and-desist order, which eventually led to the new title. However, that’s not holding Adam Jones back – in fact, as production is about to get under way, the drama has added Uma Thurman to its already impressive ensemble.
Cooper leads the film as a bad-boy Michelin chef who has to turn his life around. In addition to Thurman, Daniel Bruhl, Riccardo Scarmacio, Emma Thompson, Lily James, Omar Sy, Jamie Dornan, Sam Keeley, Sarah Greene and Alicia Vikander will all co-star. According to Deadline, the plot is as follows:
Chef Adam Jones (Cooper) had it all – and lost it. A two-star Michelin rockstar with the bad habits to match, the former enfant terrible of the Paris restaurant scene did everything different every time out, and only ever cared about the thrill of creating explosions of taste. To land his own kitchen and that third elusive Michelin star though, he’ll need the best of the best on his side, including the beautiful Helene (Miller).
So, quite a different animal than Favreau’s Chef, which makes it very fortunate that a similar title will no longer cause audiences to compare the two. The talent behind the scenes on this one is equally exciting – John Wells (August: Osage County) is directing from a script by Eastern Promises and Locke scribe Steven Knight.
Adam Jones will begin rolling cameras very soon in New Orleans, where it will shoot for two days before moving to London and spending a month there. No release date has been announced yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if The Weinstein Company positioned it as an awards contender in the second half of 2015.
