After reportedly departing over “creative differences,” German director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck has now returned to the helm of “The Tourist,” with Johnny Depp also confirmed to star alongside Angelina Jolie.
The move caps off an eventful six months for the project — a remake of Jérôme Salle’s 2005 French thriller, “Anthony Zimmer” — which has seen more line up changes than a game of musical chairs. Originally teaming Tom Cruise and Charlize Theron with director Bharat Nalluri, Cruise soon left for James Mangold’s “Knight & Day” to be replaced by Sam Worthington. Theron and Nalluri followed suit which brought Jolie on board along with von Donnersmarck. Depp was then in talks to replace Worthington with word that Alfonso Cuaron was set to replace von Donnersmarck, a story the German denied.
EW is now reporting that the director did in fact leave the project during the development stage, which is probably why Cuaron came into the picture, but is now definitively back and “on top of the production.” This likely spells trouble for his “political action drama” which he wanted to also shoot this year. Apparently that one will have to wait.
Depp’s involvement is also confirmed and will see him star as an American tourist lured into a nefarious plot of intrigue by a female Interpol agent (Jolie) as she attempts to locate a criminal. Sounds like “Knight & Day” with a role reversal? The script, written by Julian Fellows with amendments by the likes of Jeffrey Nachmanoff (“The Day After Tomorrow,” “Traitor”) and William Wheeler (“The Hoax”), this sounds like a serious actioner rather than the popcorn-comedy flick like the Cruise/Diaz starrer.
However, having just finished reading “The Tourist,” the script (which Christopher McQuarrie did a draft on when Cruise was involved) is an odd choice for both Cuaron and von Donnersmarck who won an Academy Award in 2007 for the foreign language film, “The Lives Of Others.” Co-credited on the version we read is Nachmanoff, and it’s definitely a lite, romantic spy thriller that is, sure, entertaining and twisty, but not really something you’d see an Academy Award winner work on.
Principal photography on “The Tourist” is set to begin in the Spring possibly with an eye on a summer 2011 release.