In an example of a film project that truly will not die, Deadline is reporting that Netflix will soon begin production on “Triple Frontier,” which has been stuck in development hell for years. The on-again/off-again project has gone through numerous iterations, and is ripe for a title change, but looks like it’s officially going to happen, with an all-star cast in tow.
Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Pedro Pascal, Garrett Hedlund, and Adria Arjona have all signed on for “Triple Frontier,” which is to be directed by J.C. Chandor. The film follows a group of five friends who reunite to take down a South American drug lord. Loyalties are then tested when this action unleashes a chain of unintended consequences. That might be the plot, but the real story of this film is its long, troubled history.
Originally written years ago by Mark Boal, for Kathryn Bigelow to direct, “Triple Frontier” has gone through several different directors, actors, and production companies before landing at Netflix with the current group of talent. Bigelow, Tom Hanks, Will Smith, and Johnny Depp were all part of an early version of the film. After that version, Tom Hardy and Channing Tatum soon signed on to star in the film, but exited just before production was set to begin.
The Ben Affleck version of “Triple Frontier” started just over a year ago, when Affleck signed on to star in the film opposite his brother Casey Affleck and Mahershala Ali. That version of the film fell apart when Ben Affleck had to postpone production for well-documented personal reasons, which caused his brother Casey and Ali to back out due to scheduling conflicts. However, Affleck persisted and now the newest iteration is ready to go, with production set to begin in a week.
There’s one more speed bump in the way of the film, but one that should be a fairly simple fix – the title. “Triple Frontier” was originally named for a notorious border area between Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil. Unfortunately, or fortunately for those that deal with this region in real life, the area is now much safer, and is in fact, a tourist spot. So, with a new setting comes a new title. We just don’t know what that title is just yet.
As mentioned above, the film begins production very soon, and will eventually be released on Netflix. As with all its programming, Netflix didn’t provide a release date and probably won’t for some time.