After releasing the Tom Cruise-starring big-budget sci-fi action thriller Edge of Tomorrow next June, director Doug Liman will be taking on a drama about a deaf cellist involved in a low-stakes chess tournament. Just kidding! He’s going right back to making another action flick, as TheWrap reports he is in early talks with 20th Century Fox to take over controls of Narco Sub, which Tony Scott was attached to direct a couple of years ago before his untimely death.
We’re assuming they’re sticking with the same screenplay written by Safe House scribe David Guggenheim, who developed the project with Simon Kinberg, who wrote the scripts for Liman’s Jumper and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Kinberg will also be producing through his Genre Films, along with Scott Free productions.
The film sounds like it’s right up Liman’s alley, set in the dangerous world of drug smuggling. The title refers to the semi-submersible crafts that South American drug cartels have been using to ship cocaine into the U.S. without having to deal with land-based authorities. Granted, the subject matter was still pretty fresh when Scott was on board, and while it’s still a relevant topic, I wonder if it will retain people’s attention in a couple of years whenever it would probably see a release.
No other details about the script have been shared, but it was described originally as being similar to Crimson Tide and Man on Fire. I have to wonder if those comparisons were strictly meant for having Scott as a part of the project, given his frequent collaboration with Denzel Washington, who starred in both of those films. I mean, there’s still a good chance Washington will end up playing someone in this one as well, since he was also in Guggenheim’s Safe House. I’m just waiting for a cast full of people who don’t look South American.
Liman has been busy with Edge of Tomorrow (formerly All You Need is Kill) for quite a while now, having spent some of the last few months on reshoots. He has two other proposed projects floating around out there in various states of development, including the George Mallory-centered drama Everest with Tom Hardy attached to star, and the adaptation of Jack Finney’s time-shifting sci-fi novel Time and Again. It’s unclear whether Narco Sub would beat either of these films to production, but it should, considering it’s had a finished script for two years now.
If you’re interested in the subject matter, take a peek at the National Geographic documentary concerning narcotic submarines below.
