A ‘Die Hard 5’ Director Short List, DiCaprio Follows ‘The Creed of Violence’ and Furman to Tackle Escobar

It seems there is already more to the Die Hard 5 director story than I reported this morning as John Moore (Behind Enemy Lines, Max Payne) is one of four names on Fox’s shortlist to direct the feature now that Noam Murro has moved on to direct 300: Battle of Artemisia for Warner Bros. Along with Moore, Attack the Block helmer Joe Cornish, Justin Lin (Fast Five) and Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive) will meet to potentially helm the film scripted by Skip Woods. For some more details on the film and its plot, check out my previous report right here. [Deadline]

Those Western naysayers better watch out, a new report says Leonardo DiCaprio is circling The Creed of Violence, a western-flavored script based on the 2010 novel from cult author Boston Teran. The film tells the 1910-era story of a criminal named Rawbone who tries to take a cache of weapons into Mexico as part of the country’s revolution but is caught and then accompanied by a government agent who, it turns out, shares a secret past with him. DiCaprio has been offered a lead part but has not decided whether he will accept it yet, a source said. [Los Angeles Times]

Brad Furman (The Lincoln Lawyer) is in negotiations to direct an untitled new take on notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar with Matt Aldrich writing the script. This will serve as the third attempt in recent years to bring an Escobar pic to the big screen with previous attempts by Oliver Stone and Joe Carnahan both being put on hold. Scott Steindorff says the project will be a cross between The Godfather and a war movie, capturing the complexity of the man while showing the violent lifestyle. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Lucas Till (X-Men: First Class) has joined the cast of Chan-wook Park‘s Stoker, joining Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode and Jacki Weaver in the thriller that tells of a girl (Wasikowska) and her mother (Kidman) who are visited by a mysterious uncle (Goode) after the girl’s father dies. [The Wrap]

David Varod, CEO of the Bulgarian film company Nu Boyana, has been quoted saying Chuck Norris, John Travolta and Jean-Claude Van Damme will have an appearance in The Expendables 2 which is set to shoot in Bulgaria the second week of September. He also mentioned Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis along with the surviving cast members from the first film. I have to be honest on this one, I’ll believe it when I see it. The Expendables 2 is currently slated for an August 17, 2012 release. [Novinite via First Showing]

Movie News

Marvel and DC

X