Actress Brie Larson has had an incredibly strong year in 2013, featured in critically acclaimed indie productions like Destin Cretton's Short Term 12, James Ponsoldt's The Spectacular Now, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Don Jon, and now she's in the process of securing the future of her career entering talks for a high profile upcoming project. Sources have told Deadline that the young actress is now in early negotiations to star alongside Mark Wahlberg in The Gambler, director Rupert Wyatt's remake of the James Caan film from 1974.
The original film, scripted by James Toback and directed by Jarel Reisz, told the story of a literature professor named Alex Freed who has a serious gambling addition. This vice results in him not only accumulating massive amounts of debt and recieving threats from bookies, but also alienating the people he loves most. Wahlberg will be taking on Caan's role as the film's lead, but at this stage it's unclear exactly who Larson would be playing or how she fits into the story. The production has also been looking into adding Jessica Lange to the cast, but at this time it doesn't look like her deal is official just yet. William Monahan, who is best known for writing the Academy Award winning screenplay for Martin Scorsese's The Departed, is penning The Gambler remake.
Larson hasn't just been picking up an incredible number of positive reviews for her performances this year, but also some hardware as well. At the Hamptons International Film Festival she won the Breakthrough Performer award for her role in Short Term 12, and at the Locarno International Film Festival the same performance won her Best Actress. The movie got a theatrical release in late August, and in case you missed it you can watch the trailer below:
While the young actress is best known for her work in the indie world, she has also had some experience in the studio world, previously starring in last year's 21 Jump Street and Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Coming up she has director Dan Baron's musical comedy Basmati Blues with Scott Bakula and Donald Sutherland, and she will also soon be featured with Jason Sudeikis and Fred Armisen and the Christopher Storer comedy Relanxious.
Wyatt turned a lot of heads in 2011 when he directed Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and one can imagine that he's probably itching to get back behind the lens on a new feature. If casting is underway that means that the production could be aiming to get cameras rolling soon and have the movie ready to come out some time in 2014.
