Roger Ebert might be lamenting the fact that younger audiences have yet to embrace the thrilling war actioner, “The Hurt Locker,” but perhaps director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal aren’t super concerned, they just sold their new project, “Triple Frontier” to Paramount. Wait, the same studio that put out ‘G.I Joe’ and publicly re-upped their commitment to sequels and tentpoles? Don’t they realize Par Vantage is dead?
Or perhaps what Bigelow and Boal are selling has mainstream appeal? Sounds like it, as the project is being called an action-adventure even though the specific logline is being kept under wraps. The film, also touted as a big ensemble piece, sounds like a “Traffic”-like drug parable and is set in the “notorious border zone between Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil where the Igazu and Parana rivers converge — making ‘la triple frontera’ difficult to monitor and a haven for organized crime,” according to Variety.
Boal was a freelance journalist embedded with American bomb disposal experts during the Iraq war which spawned “The Hurt Locker,” so perhaps another real life journalistic endeavor produced “Triple Frontier”? Time will tell, but hopefully this news at least prompts those who haven’t yet seen “The Hurt Locker” (what are you waiting for? You better have a good excuse like it’s not playing in your town) to finally check it out. We’re probably due for a second helping soon, its that good and still seemed pegged for an Oscar nomination this year given that there are 10 Best Picture nominees.
Update: Something we were trying to figure out this morning. The Variety story does not say whether Bigelow will direct and only calls her an executive producer on the project. Jeff Wells picks up on this and says she’ll probably direct, but that’s not set in stone currently.