Lee Daniels, despite being an Oscar-nominated director, hasn’t picked up much notice since his powerful, almost hard to watch film Precious, which got him the nod from the Academy. Reports from the Cannes Film Festival though, say that Daniels has picked his next project and has attracted quite an excellent cast.
After being picked up by Millennium/Nu Image, Sofia Vergara (who has been attached for some time), Matthew McConaughey, Tobey McGuire and Zac Efron have all come on board for Daniels’ adaptation of the Peter Dexter novel, The Paperboy.
The story focuses on the two sons of a Florida newspaper mogul, one who’s a reporter and the other a college dropout, and the investigation of a death row inmate convicted of killing the local sheriff.
No word yet on what characters the actors will play or when the film is expected to start shooting, but it is speculated that it will begin production sooner rather than later as Vergara will have to go back to filming Modern Family in late summer.
The casting is looking solid and although it sounds slightly typical for McConaughey I am excited to see what Efron does in his role. Once you move past his stint in the High School Musical series and the little mishap with Charlie St. Cloud, he really is a fine, young actor.
What are your thoughts on this star-studded project?
(Source: Deadline)
