Josh Olson has been relatively quiet since earning an Oscar nomination in 2006 for penning David Croneberg’s shocking, suspenseful A History of Violence. But the screenwriter’s making a push back into the limelight. He’s one of three credited writers on Christopher McQuarrie’s adaptation of Lee Child’s One Shot, with Tom Cruise. And now Olson has been tapped to write a thriller for Mick Jagger.
The Rolling Stones frontman reportedly came up with the idea for the film, tentatively titled Tabloid, and will produce through his Jagged Films shingle, Deadline reports. Jagger would play a shady, international media mogul (like Rupert Murdoch, perhaps), while the script calls for a young journalist who would fall under the powerhouse’s spell.
Olson wrote such an ominous script for Cronenberg that I’m anxious to see what he can do with a fairly conventional concept like the one described in the Deadline piece. I’d feel a lot better about the piece if Olson somehow could convince his Violence director to collaborate once again on Tabloid, though I’m not sure this is Cronenberg’s cup of tea.
As for Jagger, he hasn’t been on screen in a legitimate acting role since 2001’s The Man from Elysian Fields, directed by the late George Hickenlooper. Jagger has so much Rolling Stones money that he doesn’t have to work another day in his life, so I’m hoping that the fact he wants to participate in Tabloid means he’s on to something special here. Because few of you reading this likely would want to waste your time on a rock star’s vanity project. Right?
