It seems that Jason Reitman is using every opportunity to strike while the iron is hot. Building his rep with “Thank You For Smoking,” breaking out with “Juno” and courting Oscar with “Up In The Air” the young helmer shows no signs of slowing down. Later this year, he’ll unveil his next effort “Young Adult,” a wickedly dark, Diablo Cody penned film starring Charlize Theron, Patrick Wilson and Patton Oswalt and now he’s lining up his followup. But if you’ve been paying attention, this one has been batted around as early as last year.
EW reports that Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin will topline “Labor Day.” Based on Joyce Maynard‘s book, the project sounds like yet another shift in gears for Reitman. Here’s how EW lays out the story: “Set in the early ’80s over the late summer holiday weekend, Labor Day opens with divorced, depressed single mom Adele clothes shopping with her 13-year-old son Henry, who encounters a large, fearsome man — who also happens to be bleeding badly. He asks for a ride, and against all judgment, they give him one. Are they hostages, accomplices … or just deluded? As police search town for the escaped convict, the mother and son gradually learn his true story as their options become more and more limited.”
Last fall, the film was announced as Reitman’s followup to “Young Adult” with Brolin primed for the lead and it appears the contracts have been signed and sealed. As for Winslet — who was phenomenal earlier this year in “Mildred Pierce” — it continues a great run of roles for the actress who has Roman Polanski‘s “Carnage” and Steven Soderbergh‘s “Contagion” hitting later this year.
With Reitman likely doing the festival gamut this fall with “Young Adult,” he’ll be busy so “Labor Day” will roll in front of cameras in 2012 in New England. But it already sounds like a great story, and with these two talents in the lead it looks like Reitman is quickly emerging as one of the top shelf directors of his generation.