Not long ago, we got word that Robert De Niro would be starring in Luc Besson‘s upcoming project Malavita, which is described as a “darkly comedic gangster thriller.” Today we have word that Academy Award winner Tommy Lee Jones has joined the cast too, which also includes Michelle Pfeiffer.
The film will follow De Niro and Pfeiffer who play “a married couple with Mafia ties who relocate to France under the witness protection program. But of course, while trying to fit in, they quickly go back to their old mafia ways of dealing with certain problems.” Jones will be playing the FBI agent who has to deal with them.
Besson is one of those directors who usually grabs my attention, but it’s usually in the hopes that he will one day return to the really good kinds of films he used to make like Leon: The Professional or the incredibly underrated science-fiction flick The Fifth Element. It’s been a while since he’s directed a good film, but he did co-write the screenplay for the excellent 2008 action-thriller Taken.
As for Jones, it’s usually good to see him in anything. My main concern is that De Niro has chosen to be involved in this project, and as most of you know, his choice of film roles has not exactly been great lately with films like New Year’s Eve, Stone, and Little Fockers. However, with upcoming projects like this, as well as Sean Penn‘s The Comedian and David O’Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook, perhaps he can turn his slump around.
Malavita is currently in pre-production with no set release date.
(Source: First Showing)