Oscar winnerAngelina Jolieis in talks to star inThose Who Wish Me Dead, the next feature from writer-directorTaylor Sheridan, the Oscar-nominated scribe behindHell or High WaterandSicariowho went on to make his directing debut withWind River.
Based on the bestselling novel byMichael Koryta,Those Who Wish Me Deadis described as a hard-boiled chase thriller set against a wildfire in the Montana wilderness. It follows a 14-year-old boy who witnesses a brutal murder and enters a federal protection program that involves teaching him survival skills. Those come in handy when the two killers come after him, with only a few people standing between them and the boy – a couple who run the wilderness survival program, and a woman who occupies a lonely fire lookout tower. The latter role seems best fit for Jolie, but we suppose she could be playing one-half of the couple, or even one of the killers if Sheridan decided to gender-swap one of the two murderous Blackwell brothers.
Creative Wealth Media will finance the indie movie, which is being produced bySteve ZaillianandGarrett Baschof Film Rites andAaron L. Gilberton behalf of BRON Studios. CWM’sJason Clothwill serve as executive producer. Production is expected to begin in May once Sheridan wraps the second season ofYellowstone, but of course, that begs the question – what happened to the project Sheridan had been planning withChris Pratt?
It was only last October that all the trades reported that Pratt was in negotiations to star in a Sheridan thriller with the working title ofFast, in which he would play a former special forces commando who’s recruited by the DEA to lead a black ops strike team targeting drug dealers who are protected by the CIA.David Heymanhad been slated to produce for Warner Bros., which had been reluctant to greenlight the $75 million project until Sheridan had attached a bankable star as the lead. Pratt fit the bill andFastwas initially envisioned as another franchise for theGuardians of the Galaxystar.
However, multiple sources have told Collider thatFasthit a snag and has stalled in development, even with Sheridan’sSicariopalJon Bernthalcircling a key role alongside Pratt. Warner Bros. did not respond to numerous requests for comment.
Jolie has three films in the can awaiting release – Disney’sMaleficent 2andThe One and Only Ivan, both of which she also produced, as well asBrenda Chapman’s indieCome Away, which serves as a prequel to the stories of Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. Jolie is represented by UTA, while Sheridan is repped by CAA and Elevate Entertainment. Deadline broke the news.
