After walking away with Best Picture and Best Director (among others) at last year’s Oscars, it’s no wonder stars have been lining up to star in whatever Kathryn Bigelow‘s cooking up next. And though the likes of Sean Penn, Will Smith, Javier Bardem and Christian Bale have been linked to the gestating “Triple Frontier” (aka “Sleeping Dogs“) the picture now has its first cast member. And it doesn’t get much bigger than this.
Tom Hanks, who was in talks for the film early last month, has officially joined Kathryn Bigelow’s “Triple Frontier.” The news was confirmed by ComingSoon who recently spoke with producer Charles Roven who added, “….we’re still looking to cast the other roles. We’re hoping to start shooting the movie sometime in mid-March.”
Details are still tight on the film and there’s no word yet on Hanks’ role, but the project has been described as a “Traffic“-esque tale set in the notorious, crime-ridden border region between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay known as ‘la triple frontera.’ Early reports have also suggested the film may be a multilingual affair as well.
As for the film’s title, while it has been previously reported that it may have changed to “Sleeping Dogs,” Roven referred to the project as “Triple Frontier” in his conversation with ComingSoon. The March shoot is a slight push back from the tentatively planned December/January start but we would imagine it’s to give Hanks time to get his next directorial effort “Larry Crowne,” set to hit theaters on July 1, 2011, in the can. And with “Triple Frontier” now only a few months away from lensing, more details should be on the way in the weeks to come.