With David O. Russell officially dropping out of “Uncharted” — and despite the numerous other options on his plate — the director now appears to be moving full steam ahead on his long in the works film “The Silver Linings Playbook.” Russell’s BFF4Life Mark Wahlberg joined the film last month and he may be joined by one of the biggest actresses around town.
JustJared reports that Angelina Jolie will be meeting with Russell this week about the film, so nothing is official, but if they’re correct, clearly she’s at least intrigued. The plot involves Pat Peoples (Wahlberg), a former high school teacher who, after being released from a four-year stint in a mental institution, moves back in with his mother; he then seeks to remake himself in the hopes of reconciling with his ex-wife. Back in December Bradley Cooper and Anne Hathaway were briefly linked to main the leads, but Cooper as obviously been replaced with Wahlberg (not that he was ever confirmed) and Hathaway seems unlikely at this point.
But don’t get too excited just yet. Like another other A-list actress, Jolie surrounds herself with options before choosing anything. With “Salt 2,” “Maleficent,” “Churchill And Roosevelt” and “Cleopatra” all in various stages of development, timing will likely be factor. Jolie and her partner Brad Pitt tend to stagger their scheduling so they’re never both away from their army of children. Not to mention that Jolie is likely still in post-production on her directorial debut “In The Land Of Blood and Honey” and we would guess she’ll be on the festival circuit in some capacity this fall.
All that said, with Russell proving himself to be a director who can earn Oscar glory for his actors, you can expect other big names actresses to be in the mix. No word on when this will gear up, but if Russell can get the pieces in place, a latter half 2011 start isn’t out of the question.