Passion projects get that name because whoever is shepherding them, sticks with it through thick and thin. That said, you have to hand it Matt Damon for hanging onto his Robert F. Kennedy biopic, a film he’s been trying to get made for almost as long as this site has existed. Now it looks like he’s a step closer.
“RFK” now has new life, with Nikolaj Arcel signing up to direct. He’s the filmmaker behind this summer’s OMG-it’s-only-95-minutes “The Dark Tower,” but more crucially, he helmed the acclaimed period drama “A Royal Affair,” so this drama might be more in his wheelhouse than a Stephen King adaptation. At any rate, he takes over from the previously attached Gary Ross (“Seabiscuit,” “The Hunger Games“).
When the film was first announced, it was going to be based on Evan Thomas’ biography “His Life,” with a script by Steven Knight (“Eastern Promises“), but it seems now that Arcel, along with Rasmus Heisterberg and Felipe Marino, have penned their own script. That said, the basic thrust will be the same, with the film tracking Kennedy’s transformation from the younger brother in the shadow of brother President John F. Kennedy, to a strong national leader in his own right before being gunned down in 1968 at a victory speech for a presidential primary.
If all stays the course and goes according to plan, cameras will roll in early 2018. [The Tracking Board]
