Michael Fassbender has so many projects coming up—"Slow West," "Macbeth," "Assassin’s Creed," an untitled Terrence Malick film—we nearly forgot about "The Light Between Oceans." And shame on us because it’s directed by Derek Cianfrance, who has knocked it out of the park with his last two films, "Blue Valentine" and "The Place Between The Pines." And the project is adding another exciting name.
The Wrap reports that Rachel Weisz is in early discussions to join the film, which also has Alicia Vikander on board. Based on the book by M.L. Stedman, and set in the West Coast of Australia around WWI, the story centers on a lighthouse keeper and his wife and the moral consequences they must face when they find a 2-month-old girl and a dead body in a rowboat, and decide to raise the baby as their own. The blessing soon turns tragic and presumably rips the relationship apart. Should the deal come through, Weisz will play the mother of the child. No word yet on when production might begin or where this will fit in Fassy’s busy schedule, but it looks like it’s picking up forward movement.
In other news, Jim Belushi has joined Keanu Reeves, Renée Zellweger, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Gabriel Basso in the courtroom drama "The Whole Truth." And ordinarily, we’d just shrug our shoulders, but this is the latest from "Frozen River" director Courtney Hunt, and it follows defense attorney Richard Ramsay (Reeves), who faces a hopeless case defending seventeen-year old Mike Lassiter (Basso) who’s charged with murder. The evidence against him is substantial: a knife with his finger prints and a near confession. On top of that, Mike hasn’t spoken a word since the day of the crime. With no information from his client and little to work off of otherwise, Ramsay enlists the help of Janelle (Mbatha-Raw), a young lawyer determined to find out the truth about what happened that day. Belushi plays Mike’s father and Zellweger plays his mother.
Production begins later this month in New Orleans.