Paul Verheoven hasn’t made a feature since 2006’s "Black Book," but his next one is coming together, and will be his first in French. He’ll direct "Elle," based on the novel "Oh…" by Philllippe Dijan. Isabelle Huppert will star in the movie that revolves around a psychological game of cat-and-mouse between a businesswoman and a stalker who raped her, a crime for which she seeks revenge. So yeah, the kind of pulpy stuff where Verhoeven excels, plus Huppert in the lead….this is promising. Production begins in January. [Cineuropa]
Roger Donaldson will direct a new take on "All Quiet On The Western Front," despite the fact the 1930 Oscar-winner is still a terrific and harrowing watch to this day. The story chronicles the horrors of WWI fro the viewpoint of German soldiers in the trenches, and production begins in March. [Variety]
"Frank" director Lenny Abrahamson is taking off the mask and putting on a disguise for his next movie. He’ll bring Laird Hunt’s Civil War novel "Neverhome" to the big screen, telling the story of "a farmer’s faithful wife who leaves her husband to don the uniform of a Union soldier. Disguised as a man, she becomes a hero, a folk legend, a madwoman and a traitor to the American cause. There’s also an air of mystery to the story: Why did she leave, and her husband stay? Why can she not return? What will she have to go through to make it back home?" [Deadline]
"The Departed" scribe William Monahan has teamed with Paramount to snap up the rights to the 2012 New Yorker article "The Throwaways." Monahan will write and produce the feature film take on "the death count of kids who were collared by drug enforcement agents for relatively minor or even borderline serious infractions, like being caught with small amounts of drugs, and trade cooperation for prosecution. What they do is take these untrained kids and wire them up and put them into incredibly dangerous sting operations to catch big fish." Powerful stuff. No word yet on who might direct. [Deadline]
