Deadline‘s Mike Fleming is reporting that Francis Ford Coppola has quietly been hard at work directing his next project, a horror film titled Twixt Now and Sunrise. Based on a short story by Coppola, the film will star Val Kilmer as a horror novelist. Also on board are Elle Fanning (who will next be seen in Sophia Coppola’s Oscar contender Somewhere) and Bruce Dern (Coming Home, Monster). They’re currently filming on Coppola’s property in Napa.
Kilmer has been on the comeback trail of late after being relegated to mostly direct-to-video releases for the past few years. He was featured in MacGruber earlier this year and last year had a talked about role in Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. Either way he seems to be working hard, starring in a new DVD release seemingly every other month, and it will be nice to see him back in a prominent and serious role that hopefully utilizes his talents. Fleming’s source claims Coppola specifically sought out Kilmer for the role.
He’s an underrated performer who I’d love to see battle his way back to the top. Maybe Tony Scott will find a place for Iceman in the seemingly imminent Top Gun 2. Does Kilmer have a Mickey Rourke-esque comeback in him? Coppola’s film could go a long way toward answering that question.
