Law Abiding Citizen Tagged Articles at Cinematical

We've all seen the many ways that Jason Segel is a big dude, but now he's gearing up to see what life is like on the other side. The Hollywood Reporter posts that he's in talks to sign onto Jack Black's Gulliver's Travels along with Emily Blunt. Black's Gulliver washes up on the island of Lilliput, where people are only 6 inches tall, and befriends a wee one named Horatio (Segel). Horatio not only has the honor of having a friend who can squash him -- he's also the love interest of the island's princess (Blunt). Lucky girl.

In less lucky circles, Hilary Swank is no longer getting debonair love from Jeffrey Dean Morgan. After romancing it up in P.S. I Love You, THR posts that he's going to stalk her in The Resident. She'll play a young doc who nabs a loft in Brooklyn, only to find that her charming landlord (Morgan) is actually a psycho who pulls her into "a terrifying game of cat and mouse." They really lack the chemistry, so this should be an improvement.

Last week, the upcoming thriller Law Abiding Citizen was embroiled in a bit of drama when its director, Frank Darabont, unexpectedly dropped out seemingly just after it had managed to cast Jamie Foxx. Rumors still abound that the split wasn't a friendly one -- and given that there's been a storyline switch-a-roo, we're not even sure what we'll see onscreen.

Well, happily for Citizen, they landed themselves a new director. Variety reports that F. Gary Gray has signed for the enviable job of directing Foxx and Gerard Butler (who is also producing). And while the story still focuses on a vigilante hounding a city and its assistant D.A., the roles have now switched. Foxx is now playing the assistant D.A., and Butler the vigilante, with the film set to shoot in December.

And for a movie about a vigilante, it's leaving an appropriate amount of bodies in its wake. Thanks to the shift in directors, now Eric Bana has been left job less. Gray was all set to direct Armored, the heist thriller that had chased Bana around Star Trek before finally landing him. Oddly, Armored doesn't even get the luxury of a replacement director -- Millenium Films is reporting that Gray's departure has left it dead in the water, a mere week after it had appeared in the trades.

I have an idea! Cast Bana in Law Abiding Citizen as the serial killer who controls the city and Butler's vigilante, combining both script ideas into one film of crazy, blood-splattered fun questioning the nature of justice ... or at least just ending violently in an abandoned warehouse. (By the way, if they need someone to die violently at the hands of justice-dealing Butler, I'm available. Call me!)

Just three days ago, when we told you that Jamie Foxx was joining Gerard Butler for vigilante thriller Law Abiding Citizen, we were all still under the impression that Frank Darabont remained in the director's seat for the project. Unfortunately, AICN has confirmed word that Darabont has indeed stepped away from the film, for reasons unknown, and I for one share the sentiment that this is a distinctly less exciting prospect now.

What's curious is how descriptions of the film's plot have varied. Our post on Darabont's hiring and the film's IMDb page (at the moment) both shared a synopsis that involved an elaborate scheme by an incarcerated criminal mastermind to control the city. Last week's Hollywood Reporter piece on Foxx coming aboard took it back to an reportedly original, comparably simpler tale of injustice and revenge, which screenwriter Kurt Wimmer (Street Kings) may still be able to spin into something special.

Just not, y'know, Darabont special. (Maybe he could return to Stephen King country and finally bring "The Long Walk" to the screen; one can hope...).

Gerard Butler's RocknRolla week has gone rather sour, poor lad. (And I do mean that.) But maybe he can keep cheerful at the idea that Law Abiding Citizen is finally moving forward again. If you remember, this is the first film Butler will be producing under his Evil Twins shingle, and he snagged Frank Darabont for the director's chair.

Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Mr. Butler has snagged himself a pretty big costar: Jamie Foxx. Butler will play a successful assistant D.A., who finds himself in the middle of a vigilante plot hatched by Foxx, who has been screwed over by the legal system and discovers that one of the men responsible for killing his wife and daughter is about to be set free. All who participated in the deal and the killings are fair game for his revenge. It's going to be a lot of fun watching Butler and Foxx square off.

Possibly better than Foxx's casting is that they seem to be keeping the original plot. When Darabont became attached to the film, the press release suggested that the story was revamped to center around a criminal mastermind rather than vigilante justice. Who wants to see a Hannibal Lecter knockoff over a Harvey Dent clone? Not I, I like my moral ambiguity and Batman style justice. No word on when this starts shooting, but let's hope it's soon. I think Butler could use some good news -- and a safer outlet for his own vigilante justice.

According to Screen Daily, Law Abiding Citizen now has a director in Frank Darabont. Citizen is the first movie to be produced under Gerard Butler's production shingle; you can read all about Evil Twins and its upcoming slate here (I am gently encouraging you to be interested in this fledgling company).

Production is set to begin on August 18th in Detroit, which I hear is becoming the new Shreveport. It's being filmed on a shoestring budget of $40 million, and the screenplay has been penned by Kurt Wimmer.

The plot has been changed quite drastically since it was first tossed around. Originally, Butler was an assistant D.A. who finds himself at the center of a traumatized victim's vigilante plot. Now, it has been revamped into the story of a criminal mastermind who controls a city from the confines of his prison cell. (Which explains why Darabont was drawn to it, and why he's a good pick. Prison dramas are a good specialty for him.) Butler is the assistant D.A. who stands in the mastermind's way.

Revisionism and remakes, those are the buzz words these days. The Hollywood Reporter posts that the Film Department, the indie production company run by Mark Gill and Neil Sacker, won the bidding war for Galahad, a revisionist version of the classic King Arthur story.

Is it really edgy to revise King Arthur anymore? We've already had the ultra-feminist version with Mists of Avalon; we recently saw the "historical" version with Clive Owen and Keira Knightley. I suppose we haven't had a version yet that changes all the names -- and here it is. Galahad portrays King Arthur as an aging, cowardly king, who is murdered by the young and ambitious Queen Guinevere. She blames the crime on Sir Galahad, who must escape this death sentence, vanquish the forces of evil, and return Camelot to its former glory.

Call me crazy, but I would just like an ordinary version -- with Merlin, Morgan LeFay, the forbidden passion of Lancelot and Guinevere, and Arthur as the Once and Future King. Is Excalibur (which I always found too nightmarish, but I do respect it as a solid attempt) the only one we're ever going to get? It can't all end with Clive Owen, can it?

The Film Department is confident that the actor's strike won't harm their fledgling production, as the SAG will grant companies like them a waiver. Interestingly, the company is also set to begin shooting Gerard Butler's Law Abiding Citizen with the actor's new Evil Twins shingle. Galahad + Gerard Butler makes me wonder if he'll wind up producing and playing that pure and chivalrous knight. He's fond of the sword genre, especially if it has a revisionist edge. I wouldn't be surprised -- and you will have heard it here first.