Bryan Cranston Being Eyed For Role In Legendary's China-Set Epic GREAT WALL

Legendary's Great Wall is attracting some interesting talent. We last heard from Deadline that Matt Damon was trying to figure out his busy work load, to fit the project as he's keen to work with director Zhang Yimou. The pair almost teamed-up for the WWII drama The Flowers of War. A new development has risen as the site now reports Bryan Cranston is wanted for a leading role as well. Cranston previously worked on Legendary's Godzilla, and helped gain a lot of attention for it. Let's just hope this role allows Bryan to be feature in more than just the first act.

Another interesting bit of news concerning the project, is that the most recent draft of the script has been penned by Bourne franchise screenwriter Tony Gilroy. He also recently directed Jeremy Renner in the Bourne spin-off The Bourne Legacy. I assume this means we'll be getting some really exciting action sequences.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Matt Damon Might Lead Legendary's China-Set THE GREAT WALL

We recently heard that Universal was finally putting together deals that would see Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass make another Bourne film. Another bit of possible news coming Deadline, is that Damon is being eyed for the lead in Legendary Pictures (now with Universal) supernatural China-set The Great Wall. The film has legendary (fitting I know) Chinese director Zhang Yimou (Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Curse of The Golden Flowers, Flowers of War) and has been looking for a lead for some time now.

They also mention that Damon is very interested in working with Yimou, since he was in talks to take the lead in Flowers of War. That role would go to Christian Bale instead. The only problem is that shooting Ridley Scott's The Martian, and this upcoming Bourne installment, could conflict with Great Wall's production.

Before Zhang signed-on, actors such as Henry Cavill (Man of Steel, The Man From UNCLE, Batman v Superman) and Benjamin Walker (Vampire Hunter) were attached for it. Ed Zwick (Last Samurai, Defiance, Blood Diamond, The Siege) was previously set as it's director, but will instead take a producer's credit.

The plot has been sort of kept a secret, but it would reveal the "true" reasons behind the wall's construction. I assume it could be monsters or demons, since China has a rich history of folklore. Let's just hope this turns out a bit better than Universal's disastrous re-imagining of The 47 Ronin. We know that the market in China for films is going to dwarf North America, so studios having their blockbusters set there is just smart. Chinese films have come along way in the last two decades, and usually are superior to what Hollywood has been grinding-out. I'm excited to see what a visionary like Yimou can do with Legendary handling it's production.



SOURCE: DEADLINE

Christian Bale To Star In Chinese Epic Nanjing Heroes

Christian Bale is coming into his own lately with his performance in The Fighter gathering tons of Oscar buzz. He's also primed to start production The Dark Knight Rises in the fall. His next project according to TheHollywoodReporter will be Nanjing Heroes a film focusing on the Japanese invasion of Nanjing during 1937 that lead to the Nanjing Massacre.

It's not new subject matter for Bale as a child actor he starred in Steven Spielberg's Empire of The Sun. Where he played a young British boy living in China and is forced into an interment camp but still idolizes Japanese pilots. The era has also been used as settings for recent films such as Shanghai and City of War.

The Chinese production will cost $90 million and will be the one of the most expensive films made in China along with John Woo's Red Cliff. It will be directed by Zhang Yimou who is best known to western audiences for making the Jet Li epic Hero. Zhang has hired Dark Side FX to handle the film's effects they've worked on Saving Private Ryan and The Dark Knight.