Kathryn Bigelow's International Black-Ops Thriller Financed, Shoots This Summer

OK, let's try this again. About 24 hours ago we told you that the low-budget ($10m or so) 'international black ops thriller' by Katherine Bigelow and Mark Boal, her writer on The Hurt Locker, was being repped for international sales by IM Global, and that it might have something to do with the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. Mark Boal's reps quickly squashed that report, but it turns out that an update on the film didn't come out of nowhere. The film is now fully financed, and will shoot this summer, with Bigelow and Boal's Triple Frontier to go before cameras afterward.

Variety reports the news, and we're giving them a break here because the trade was also the source of the erroneous previous report. The key data is that the film is moving full steam ahead, with cast and locations to be locked down in the next few weeks and a summer shoot on the calendar.

The story is still being kept quiet, though we're told that the Osama Bin Laden angle mentioned in the last report was not correct. All we've got is that it is "based on the true story of a U.S. military black ops mission, the ramifications of which are still being felt around the world," and that the story came about after Mr. Boal " obtained classified information while researching the project."

That means Triple Frontier would shoot this fall or afterward. Tom Hanks has been attached to star, but with the schedule pushed it will remain to be seen whether he'll still be part of the movie when it eventually happens. And hopefully it will happen, but I"m also happy to see that one of these two films is likely to be in the editing room before the end of the year.