Michael Fassbender To Climb ‘The Mountain Between Us’ For ‘Miss Bala’ Director Gerardo Naranjo

The world is an oyster these days for Michael Fassbender, who surely has his pick of projects. Even though the hotly buzzed actor was snubbed for his towering performance in "Shame," that hasn't stopped Hollywood from sending the actor everything they've got. He's lining up a busy year of projects, with Ridley Scott's "The Counselor" to shoot this spring, and he will reteam with Steve McQueen for "Twelve Years A Slave" this summer. And his next effort is yet again another nice, unexpected selection for the actor.

Fassbender will now take the lead in "Miss Bala" director Gerardo Naranjo's English-language debut, "The Mountain Between Us." The script, by J. Mills Goodloe, is based on the novel by Charles Martin, and tells the story of Ashley, a writer heading east for her wedding who meets Ben, a doctor. When their flight is cancelled, the two charter a flight only to have that plane's pilot suffer a heart attack. The plane crashes into a mountain and so the two fight the elements and their injuries to return to civilization, and, of course, fall in love with each other. 

No word yet on when this would shoot but we're guessing sometime in the late summer or early fall. Fassbender continues to mix it up with tenptoles ("X-Men: First Class," "Prometheus"), indie/arthouse fare ("Shame," "The Counselor") and now, we're guessing one for the ladies (this sounds like the kind of rugged romance we're going to have to take our girlfriends to). That being said, with the wickedly inventive Naranjo behind the camera, this could upset any expectations we might have from the logline. Either way, more Fassy is always a good thing. [Variety]