James Gandolfini looks to have a very busy slate before him in the coming year and a half, he’s now signed on for David Chase’s first feature debut Twylight Zones. The film takes its title from the film’s fictitious band which is the centre of the film’s story, set in New Jersey during the 60’s it will supposedly be a look on the effect of the new waves of music during that period. The film will chart the band’s lead singer Douglas and his rise to fame.
Gandolfini will play Douglas’ father who finds all rock’n’roll completely unacceptable. This marks a reunion of sorts for David Chase and James Gandolfini who collaborated on that little HBO show called The Sopranos but I can imagine the tone being a whole lot different.
Gandolfini is also looking at two other very promising projects including Andrew Dominik’s adaptation of Cogan’s Trade. His name has been mentioned in relation to this for a while now but no deals have been made as of yet, although if this news keeps coming up hopefully they should be closer to a deal. The film already has Brad Pitt, Sam Rockwell and Casey Affleck confirmed in what sounds like a really exciting feature.
The other project is Stephen Daldry’s big screen version of Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, a post 9/11 drama who could be set to play against Sandra Bullock as her “male friend” after her husband played by Tom Hanks, dies in the World Trade Center attacks. I’ve never been a huge fan of Daldry’s work but the mix of this cast and the brilliance of Foer’s writing makes me excited for this one too.