Oh man, if this movie goes south like Shia LaBeouf‘s mooted Broadway turn with Alec Baldwin, those leaked emails are gonna be epic. Not that we would wish ill on a movie production, and if you look past the title, there is actually something potentially interesting brewing between LaBeouf and Robert De Niro, of all people.
Somehow missed by the entire internet over a week ago (or maybe just by us), THR reveals that the unlikely duo of De Niro and LaBeouf will be teaming up on “Spy’s Kid” (whose title we can only imagine will be changed to not be confused with the Robert Rodriguez franchise). But maybe this will have a bit more substance than the working title allows for. Based on a 2011 article in The Oregonian, the saga centers on 24-year-old college student Nathan Nicholson, who was arrested in 2009 by the FBI, accused of carrying secrets to the Russians. The twist? He is the son of John Nicholson, himself a high ranking CIA official, who was convicted of the same offense, leaking defense secrets photos and more. In 1997, Papa Nicholson was sentenced to 23 years in prison, while his son got five years of probation in 2011, after making a deal agreeing to testify against his Dad, who had trained him in the spy game.
So yeah, some pretty potent stuff in here. There’s no script written just yet and De Niro and LaBeouf will need to approve it before they fully sign on the dotted line to star. Should they do so, “Disturbia” helmer D.J. Caruso will direct.