Paramount, Brad Pitt find 'Lost City'

[Rezzo]

Paramount, Brad Pitt find 'Lost City'
Plan B to produce David Grann's manuscript

Paramount Pictures has preemptively bought "Lost City of Z," a David Grann manuscript about the search for a lost city in the Amazon, with Brad Pitt to produce the feature adaptation through his Plan B shingle as a potential starring vehicle.

Grann's forthcoming nonfiction book concerns British explorer Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett, who was attempting to find the so-called City of Z when he and his party disappeared in 1925. Over the next 70 years, scores of explorers tried and failed to retrace Fawcett's path, including a 1996 expedition of Brazilian adventurers. Pitt would play Fawcett.

Doubleday is scheduled to publish "Lost City of Z," an expansion of Grann's September 2005 article in the New Yorker, in February.

When Pitt expressed interest in toplining as well as producing "Lost City of Z," Paramount moved quickly to buy it. Par previously optioned Grann's New Yorker article "City of Water."

Pitt, whose Plan B is based at Paramount, has a longstanding relationship with the studio and Par chief Brad Grey, a former partner in Plan B. As an actor, Pitt has two films awaiting release: the Coen brothers' "Burn After Reading," which Focus Features will open in September, and David Fincher's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," which Par will open in December. He is also attached to star in "The Fighter" for the studio. As a producer, Pitt's next film is Rachel McAdams-Eric Bana starrer "The Time Traveler's Wife," set for release in November.

I like the sound of it.

 

[Gotham]

That doesn't sound too bad. I'd love to see that film.

 

[tzarinna]

Could be cool.

 

[fu manchu]

Pitt in a British accent......

 

[turtlefocker]

april fools

 

[Gotham]

april fools

I don't believe that it's a joke.

 

[Hunter Rider]

I love this type of movie.

 

[Ratcrawler]

Hopefully Tarzan shows up.

 

[Hunter Rider]

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=51208

James Gray, Brad Pitt Search for Lost City
Source: Variety
December 10, 2008


Paramount has set We Own the Night helmer James Gray to direct The Lost City of Z, reports Variety. Gray will adapt the David Grann book for Brad Pitt to star in as British soldier and spy Percy Fawcett.

The nonfiction book by Grann, a staffer at the New Yorker, will be published in April by Doubleday. Paramount acquired it earlier this year for Pitt to produce through his Paramount-based Plan B.

Fawcett left Victorian society to explore in the Amazon, and he became obsessed by the idea of an advanced civilization he called Z, which he believed existed in the depths of the jungle. Along with his son, Fawcett headed into the jungle in 1925 in search of Z and was never seen again.

"This is a terrific opportunity to do something entirely different for me," Gray said. "It is a story that will be told with an epic scale, with a main character who is larger than life."

 

[Gotham]

I'm even more excited.

 

[chamber-music]

I hope Pitt is that one in a handful of American actors who don't butcher the accent.

 

[The Englishman]

I hope Pitt is that one in a handful of American actors who don't butcher the accent.

Has he ever done an English accent before???

 

[chamber-music]

Has he ever done an English accent before???

Not that I can remember

 

[MrMaooz]

Toronto: Benedict Cumberbatch To Star In ‘Lost City Of Z’ For James Gray

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s a testament that good projects sometimes rise above development hell. Benedict Cumberbatch, who figures to be a big man on campus at the Toronto Film Festival with 12 Years A Slave, The Fifth Estate and August: Osage County getting big premieres, is negotiating to star in Lost City Of Z, which James Gray will direct from a script he adapted. Panorama Media will finance the film and handle foreign sales.

The film is based on the David Grann bestselling book. Cumberbatch is in talks to play Percy Fawcett, who in 1925 headed into the depths of the Amazon jungles in Brazil. Fawcett was there to map the jungle and, hobbled by malaria, he discovered a mythical city he called The Lost City Of Z. Scorned by peers who claimed that this ancient kingdom was a fraud, Fawcett headed back into the jungle with his son and one other, braving the dangers of disease, insects, snakes, poison darts and other hazards to reinforce his discovery. None of them were ever seen again and it remains one of the great exploration mysteries of the 20th Century.

Plan B‘s Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Anthony Katagas (who worked with Cumberbatch on 12 Years A Slave) will produce. Plan B has been developing the project for several years, and it initially seemed like Pitt would be heading into the jungles. Cumberbatch most recently starred in Star Trek Into Darkness and has The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug coming later this year and will play Alan Turing in the Morten Tyldum-directed Imitation Game that’s backed by Black Bear Pictures. He seems an intriguing choice to play Fawcett and is certainly a fast-rising leading man.

Cumberbatch is repped by UTA and John Grant of Conway van Gelder Grant in the UK.

http://www.deadline.com/2013/09/toronto-benedict-cumberbatch-to-star-in-lost-city-of-z-for-james-gray/

 

[Deserana]

That seems to hint that Pitt is no longer involved in an acting capacity...

The positive side of me is hoping that means World War Z 2 is going ahead.

 

[MrMaooz]

Robert Pattinson Set To Join Benedict Cumberbatch In James Gray’s ‘The Lost City Of Z’ Adaptation

According to Screen Daily, Robert Pattinson has joined Benedict Cumberbatch in ‘The Lost City Of Z,’ which James Gray will direct from a script he adapted. The film is based on the David Grann bestselling book. Cumberbatch is in talks to play Percy Fawcett, who in 1925 headed into the depths of the Amazon jungles in Brazil. Fawcett was there to map the jungle and, hobbled by malaria, he discovered a mythical city he called The Lost City Of Z. Scorned by peers who claimed that this ancient kingdom was a fraud, Fawcett headed back into the jungle with his son and one other, braving the dangers of disease, insects, snakes, poison darts and other hazards to reinforce his discovery. None of them were ever seen again and it remains one of the great exploration mysteries of the 20th Century. There’s currently no word yet as to who Pattinson will be playing.

Plan B‘s Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Anthony Katagas (who worked with Benedict Cumberbatch on ’12 Years A Slave&#8217 will produce. Plan B has been developing the project for several years, and it initially seemed like Pitt would be heading into the jungles. Source: The Playlist.

http://www.flicksandbits.com/2013/11/07/robert-pattinson-set-to-join-benedict-cumberbatch-in-james-grays-the-lost-city-of-z-adaptation/60029/

 

[Octoberist]

Good for Robert. Seriously.

 

[terry78]

http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/406351-charlie-hunnam-to-headline-the-lost-city-of-z

Hunnam is taking the role. May as well.

 

[Octoberist]

Just like Passengers: the project that doesn't want to die.

 

[Rowsdower!]

I asked for Brad Pitt and Benedict Cumberbatch, and I got Robert Pattinson and Charlie Hunnam. How's that for being born under a bad sign?

 

[Black Narcissus]

I asked for Brad Pitt and Benedict Cumberbatch, and I got Robert Pattinson and Charlie Hunnam. How's that for being born under a bad sign?

They don't even fit the real person.

Colin Firth is more of a suitable choice.

 

[Gold Samurai]

Over the years they just kept looking for younger and younger leads.

Pattinson and Hunnam sound like the studio wants to woo the 18-29 female demographic.

 

[Octoberist]

Next year i'll be Daniel Radcliffe. Watch!

 

[terry78]

No next year it'll be that kid that played God in Exodus.

 

[Marvolo]

I can not imagine Hunnam and his strut as an explorer in the 1920s. I can instantly imagine Pitt fitting that role tho. Damn shame. I was really interested in this. Now...not so much.