The Hollywood Reporter brings word Andy and Lana Wachowski (The Matrix, Speed Racer) are set to direct Hood, a modern, urban take on the Robin Hood myth for Warner Bros. with the duo said to have already reached out to Will Smith for a starring role.
As you may remember, the Wachowskis originally offered Smith the lead role in The Matrix, but he turned it down to star in Wild Wild West, due to reportedly being skeptical over the film’s ambitious bullet time special effects. Smith was later quoted saying he wasn’t “mature enough as an actor” at the time. There’s no question he’s mature enough now, but after audience’s mixed-feelings over The Matrix sequels and the box-office dud that was Speed Racer will Smith jump at a second chance at working with the Wachowskis?
As for the film, the Wachowskis wrote the script and will direct though details outside of what I mentioned in the opening paragraph are zero.
Of course, some of you may remember the brothers were working on an Iraq war movie titled CN-9, described as a drama that focuses on a “hard R” homosexual relationship between a U.S. soldier and an Iraqi said to begin in the near future and then span back over years that include the current war in Iraq. Apparently it also included a plot to assassinate George W. Bush. Although some talking head footage has already been shot with Arianna Huffington (details), Salman Rushdie, Jesse Ventura and Cornel West the film was slow to find financing, which is how we’ve arrived at Hood.
There’s no word on when Hood will get underway, but it comes at a time when the Wachowskis were making news in connection with an adaptation of David Mitchell’s “Cloud Atlas”, with Tom Tykwer writing and directing and the Wachowskis attached as producers.
During a question and answer for her upcoming film Frankie and Alice Halle Berry confirmed the film was set to shoot next year saying, “I’m going to do a movie probably in the summer with the Wachowskis… A really interesting movie [that is] sort of [like] what they did for The Matrix, they have another really amazing idea that’s sort of gonna stretch our brains even further. And so I’m really excited about that and that’s probably gonna be in the summer. And that’s with Tom Hanks and Natalie Portman.”
The two films have nothing to do with one another, but there was speculation as to whether or not the Wachowskis planned to move from just being producers and into the directors’ chairs. With Hood on the way that seems less likely.
