Caffeinated Clint
Taylor Kitsch, the “Friday Night Lights” and “Waco” star whose screen screen appeal helped nab first place roles in showy big screen fare like “John Carter” and “American Assassin”, will headline a new movie for “District 9” director Neill Blomkamp.
“Inferno” sees Kitsch play a cop who is called to investigate a seemingly ordinary murder in the New Mexico desert. There he uncovers a deeper conspiracy and begins to suspect that the killer he’s trying to find may be a humanoid beast.
Blomkamp abandoned plans to direct a sequel to 1987’s “RoboCop” – allegedly over a creative kaffufle with the studio – and turned his attention to this one, which AGC Studios is producing and bankrolling.
Sounds like Blomkamp has had a much smoother ride on this than he has some of the bigger brand ventures he’s been involved in over the past couple of years. After the critically-maligned “Chappie”, Blomkamp attempted to get a new film in the “Alien” franchise up – one that would see Sigourney Weaver and Michael Biehn reprise their roles from James Cameron’s “Aliens” in a story that would be set in an alternate timeline in the franchise. Fox ultimately passed on the project, opting instead to stick with Ridley Scott’s prequel series of films.
“RoboCop Returns”, which would’ve served as a direct sequel to the Paul Verhoeven hit, also stumbled. Blomkamp seemingly decided to steer clear of big studio sequels after that and concentrate on original fare.
“Inferno” will shoot early next year.
