Wanted 2 Not Happening; Angelina Jolie To Star In Alfonso Cuarón's Space Thriller Gravity
So I have a bit of bad news for you guys: It looks as if the Wanted sequel will not be happening after all. Angelina Jolie pulled out of the project to pursue another film.
That is where the good news comes in: Jolie left Wanted 2 to star in Alfonso Cuarón's space thriller titled Gravity. Okay, let me give you guys a minute to catch your breath and calm down, I know this is all coming a bit fast — yes, Cuarón, the master filmmaker behind Children of Men, the best movie in the Harry Potter series: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, as well as the classic Y tu mamá también, will be directing a space thriller, written by his 28-year-old son, Jonás (The Shock Doctrine).What's it about?
According to Vulture, Jolie will play the sole surviving human member of a space mission, desperately trying to return home to Earth. She will be the only actor on screen for most of the movie. Oh, and did I mention that Jolie isn't alone on the ship? Jolie will also be playing her daughter.
Apparently the project was originally set up at Universal with Jolie attached but the studio put the project in turnaround, and it landed at Warner Bros with Harry Potter series producer David Heyman and Legendary Pictures.
Warner Bros is by far the most filmmaker-friendly studio of the modern era. Lets take a look at some of the films this studio has put out in the last few years: James McTeigue's V for Vendetta, Bryan Singer's Superman Returns, M Night Shymalan's Lady in the Water, Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain, Christopher Nolan's The Prestige, Zach Snyder's 300 , Roland Emmerich's 10,000 BC, The Wachowski Brothers' Speed Racer, Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla, Michael Dougherty's Trick r Treat, Zach Snyder's Watchmen, McG's Terminator Salvation, Steven Soderbergh's The Informant, Richard Kelly's The Box, Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are, and looking forward to Nolan's Inception and Snyder's Suckerpunch.
The films listed above are not all home runs: some were critical failures, while other were box office failures. But what all the films have in common is that Warner Bros hired a director they trusted and gave him the artistic freedom to make the film how he wanted (sticking within certain budgetary constraints...etc). This is the reason why a lot of the great filmmakers of today are trying to make movies at Warner Bros — because they support the filmmaker's vision.
(It should be noted that if the final product doesn't meet their standards or tests poorly at test screenings, Warner Bros has been criticized harshly for forcing filmmakers into reshoots or recuts)
And Cuaron is the perfect filmmaker for that kind of environment, and this seems like the perfect challenging yet genre-based project for Legendary to help develop. It should also be mentioned that Legendary Pictures has great track record thus far in the genre film department.
Details are thin on this new project, and I can't wait to learn more.