Triple Frontier (Affleck / Issac / Hunnam / Hedlund / Pascal) (March 13 @ Netflix)

The JC Chandor-directed thriller Triple Frontier has regained its footing at Netflix for a potential August production start. Mark Wahlberg is now in talks to replace Ben Affleck, who dropped out last week. The film will shoot in Hawaii and Colombia and will star Sons of Anarchy‘s Charlie Hunnam, Mudbound‘s Garrett Hedlund and Pedro Pascal, coming off Game of Thrones and Narcos. Wahlberg is coming off Transformers: The Last Knight. Still in the mix is Adria Arjona, who has been attached right along.

This last–minute activity is just part and parcel of the resilience this film has shown. Triple Frontier was a go at Paramount but hit the rocks when lead actors Tom Hardy and Channing Tatum dropped out over creative differences, weeks before the start of production. That, a $70 million price tag and the fact the studio was going through a regime change with the exit of the late Brad Grey (who championed the project), prompted Paramount to put the film into turnaround. Deadline revealed this implosion on April 12, and then on May 1 revealed that Netflix was pursuing the picture along with other suitors, with Affleck and his Oscar-winning brother Casey courted. The elder Affleck was ready to go but decided to take a break to focus on his health and family. Incoming Netflix feature film head Atlas producers Charles Roven and Alex Gartner kept the fires stoked, and now they have pulled off a rarity: saving a project that seemed in grave danger of flatlining.

Scott Stuber has been tasked with assembling a star-driven slate that could reach 40-50 annual films in total, and Triple Frontier gets added to a growing film roster that recently included the deal that reteams Nightcrawler writer-director Dan Gilroy with Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo for an untitled film set in the art world, and Highwaymen, the John Lee Hancock-directed film put in turnaround at Universal about the Texas Rangers who hunted down and killed bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde, with Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson starring.

Originally written by Mark Boal with a rewrite by Chandor, Triple Frontier is a thriller set in the notorious border zone between Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil where the Iguazu and Parana rivers converge. This is a film that Katherine Bigelow once planned to direct, and which at one time Tom Hanks and Will Smith and Johnny Depp circled, so it has always had its fans.

Tyger wrote:Affleck replaced with Marky Mark, man, that is below the belt

“Star Wars” Hero Oscar Isaac Joins “Triple Frontier” as Ben Affleck Returns and Filming Begins

Oscar Isaac, star of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, has joined TRIPLE FRONTIER, which may now be an UNTITLED JC CHANDOR PROJECT, the Tracking Board confirms.

Isaac’s attachment comes from an odd source, a series of pictures of Isaac on a beach in Hawaii with his co-stars Ben Affleck, Charlie Hunnam and  Garrett Hedlund.

The project was originally written by Mark Boal for Kathryn Bigelow to direct at Paramount, but JC Chandor came onboard a couple years back, development continued, Chandor did some rewrites and various actors came on board and left.

Ben Affleck was supposed to star in the movie originally, but then he dropped out last year to deal with family issues, but he now seems to be back on board with Hunnam, Hedlund and Isaac. The film also stars Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones) and Adria Arjona.

Netflix came on board to distribute and finance the film when Paramount put it into turnaround with Charles Roven, Andy Horwitz and Alex Gartner producing for Atlas Entertainment. Executive producers are Thomas Hayslip, Neal Dodson and Anna Gerb.

The movie is an action-adventure set on the border zone between Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, and production was supposed to start in the summer, but apparently, they’re getting an early start on the project for Netflix to stream sometime in 2019. Chandor’s film will also shoot in California and Colombia.

The film’s tagline: Loyalties are tested when five friends reunite to take down a South American drug lord, unleashing a chain of unintended consequences.

Isaac reunites with Chandor after starring in his film A Most Violent Year, co-starring Jessica Chastain. Chandor previously wrote and directed Margin Call, for which he was nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay, then he directed Robert Redford in All Is Lost.

Isaac is best known these days for playing Poe Dameron in Lucasfilm’s Star Wars movies, and he recently appeared in Alex Garland’s Annihilation, itself a reunion from the filmmaker’s previous film Ex Machina.  Isaac will next be seen in Dan Fogelman’s Life Itself and Chris Weitz’s Operation Finale, which oddly, are both released on Sept. 21.

Tyger wrote:Unless you're playing young Anakin it's not bad for your career to be in a Star Wars movie

Tyger wrote:He lives up to his username

Tyger wrote:He lives up to his username

WyldeMan wrote:BlindFaith? Oh you mean UltimateMarvel. Gotcha.