As you already know by now, not a week can go by without David O. Russell attaching his name to one project or another, but we generally hear not much beyond that so color us surprised that there is a bit of news on “The Mission,” a film he put his name to a couple of weeks ago.
It appears that Brad Pitt, no stranger to putting his name to a number of things that don’t get made, is being courted to star. Written by Peter Landesman (the Kevin Kline sex-trafficking drama “Trade“), Deadline reveals that the film is about “the methodical six-year mission planned by American and Colombian covert operatives to free 15 hostages from the Colombian jungle. The hostages included three Americans and Ingrid Betancourt, once a candidate for President of Colombia.” Mike Fleming breathlessly intones “this could all happen very quickly” but also says “nobody would confirm that Pitt was at all involved, and I’m not sure he’ll be set but I am convinced they are talking.” So, at the very least, it’s clear that they might be talking.
Either way, both Russell and Pitt are busy at the current moment. The former is gearing up “The Silver Linings Playbook” to shoot later this summer with Mark Wahlberg and the latter is already in front of cameras on Marc Forster‘s “World War Z.” Pitt in particular is very choosy and demanding about his roles so even if he signs on, we wouldn’t be surprised if more time is taken to develop it to where he likes it. But the pairing of Russell and Pitt? Yeah, that could be pretty great.