It’s been two years since Todd Haynes‘ outstanding HBO miniseries “Mildred Pierce,” and frankly that’s two years too long. But he’s quietly been brewing some projects in the background. Earlier this year, it was announced he was teaming with Cate Blanchett and Mia Wasikowska for “Carol,” based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith, but not much has been heard since. Now, another project is surfacing and it could find him working again with an actor who has anchored his more musical-based films.
Christian Bale, who starred in the glamtacular “Velvet Goldmine” and the Bob Dylan anti-biopic “I’m Not There,” has been offered the lead role in “Act Of God.” If Bale takes the part, he’ll play a regular Kansas man who gains notoriety across the nation after taking his local government to task following a devastating tornado. This is going be less natural disaster drama and more of a political exploration if it’s anything like what Haynes told us about the project last year.
“It’s sort of about the great middle of this country and their sort of suspicions about government,” he told us in an interview. “And how that keeps clicking into conservative politics and the way the right makes use of those uncertainties. There’s interesting reasons why people feel the way they do, outside of the coasts and outside of the clear liberal orthodoxy, and that interests me. It’s been too effective, that allegiance, for too many years, and I’m curious about it. So we’re kind of getting inside that process.”
There’s no word if the project has backing or when it might shoot, but we’d wager this is the kind of movie that lives or dies on drawing a big name. We’d guess if Bale signs—and his schedule seems pretty clear at the moment—all the other pieces will start falling into place.
We sincerely hope it does come together, not just because it sounds like killer material, but also because it’s been too long since the last Haynes feature. [The Tracking Board]