Cinematical

ScreenDaily is reporting today that Daniel Craig has added yet another role to his upcoming slate of projects that already includes Bond 22, The Golden Compass and Blindness. According to them, he's been cast in Defiance, the upcoming Ed Zwick film that will follow four Jewish brothers who leave occupied Poland and join freedom fighters in Belarus. There's not much more information besides that, and I'll be interested to see if this is quickly confirmed by Variety and HR, or if it turns out to be one of those 'castings' that Craig ends up denying at press junkets, like with I, Lucifer. Next up for Craig will, of course, be the much-discussed remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which was invaded by the Wachowskis and more or less re-shot, and is now apparently test screening to less than impressive results.

As for Defiance, I personally can't understand what the attraction to working with Ed Zwick would still be at this point -- the guy hasn't made a good film since at least 1998's The Siege, and even that was more weirdly entertaining than just plain good. I have to give credit where credit is due for that scene where the terrorists blow up a Broadway play, though. Zwick's signature, of blending action with bleeding-heart politics, never quite seems to gel on screen, and the less than stellar box office for Blood Diamond and The Last Samurai bear that out. Zwick must bring his pictures in on time with little fuss, though, since he keeps these things greenlit, so bully for him. If the guys from Commanderbond.net read this post, I hope they leave a comment answering this question -- doesn't Craig have to report to work soon on Bond 22? Surely he won't be fronting a big war epic until after that's wrapped.