Andy Serkis’ magnetic lead performance aside, we weren’t particularly big fans of Mat Whitecross’s Ian Dury biopic “Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll” (we’ve got our full review from Tribeca coming soon). Having said that, Whitecross, who started out working with Michael Winterbottom, clearly has some potential as a filmmaker, and he sat down with Coming Soon recently to talk about what he’s got lined up in the future.
First up appears to be an adaptation of a novel by Tokyo-based British crime writer David Peace. Peace has had four films based on his work released in the last year, with “The Damned United” and the “Red Riding” trilogy, and Coming Soon reckoned that Whitecross, along with the writer of his first film Paul Viragh, are adapting the writer’s next novel, although they didn’t press for details. We’ve done a little digging, and an excellent source tells us that the pair are in fact tackling Peace’s 2004 work “GB84,” a gripping look at the miner’s strike that proved to be one of the most critical moments in 20th century British politics.
They’ve also got another pair of projects lined up as well, a thriller starring Ray Winstone as “a man with Alzheimer’s on a journey with his son” which we believe is entitled “Ashes”, and, most excitingly, “Going Mad In Hollywood”, which will follow the making of Lindsay Anderson’s classic films “If…” and “O Lucky Man”. All three are right in our wheelhouse, and we can’t wait to see them — we just hope that Whitecross and Viragh can raise their game next time out.