In the Works: Edgerton, McKay, and More

Xavier Dolan (above), “along with Cherry Jones, Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, YouTube personality Troye Sivan, Emily Hinkler, Jesse LaTourette, David Joseph Craig, Théodore Pellerin, and Britton Sear have joined Joel Edgerton’s next directorial effort, Boy Erased,” reports the Playlist’s Kevin Jagernauth. “Starring Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman, and Russell Crowe, and based on the memoir by Garrard Conley, the film will tell the story of Jared, the son of a Baptist pastor in a small American town, who is outed to his parents at age 19. Jared is faced with an ultimatum: attend a gay conversion therapy program—or be permanently exiled and shunned by his family, friends, and faith.”

Sam Rockwell “is in final negotiations” to play George W. Bush in Cheney, Adam McKay’s biopic of former vice president Dick Cheney, according to the Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit. Cheney himself will be played by Christian Bale, Lynne Cheney by Amy Adams, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld by Steve Carell.

The Eddy, “a contemporary musical drama set in Paris” from Damien Chazelle (La La Land), is headed to Netflix, reports Zach Sharf at IndieWire.

Also, “Guillermo del Toro is riding high off the acclaimed world premiere of his latest movie, The Shape of Water, at the Venice Film Festival, but he spent some of the press conference looking ahead at some of the other projects he’s got waiting in development. One movie is his ambitious adaptation of Pinocchio, which del Toro said he’s been trying to make for the last ten years. . . . The director is planning a stop-motion reimagining set during the rise of Mussolini.”

Season 3 of True Detective is now officially set, reports Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva. Jeremy Saulnier (The Green Room) has joined creator Nic Pizzolatto as a director on the series, “the story of a macabre crime in the heart of the Ozarks, and a mystery that deepens over decades and plays out in three separate time periods. [Mahershala] Ali will play the lead role of Wayne Hays, a state police detective from Northwest Arkansas.”

“Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder have reunited to star in Destination Wedding, a new romantic comedy from former Mad About You lead writer and executive producer Victor Levin,” reports Robert Mitchell for Variety. “Reeves and Ryder star as two miserable and unpleasant wedding guests who develop a mutual affection despite themselves over the course of the weekend event.”

Lily Collins has joined Nicholas Hoult in Dome Karukoski’s biopic Tolkien, reports Justin Kroll for Variety. The story “focuses on the author as he finds friendship, love, and artistic inspiration among a group of classmates prior to the outbreak of World War I in 1914. He served in the British armed forces from 1916 to 1920, then wrote the three Lord of the Rings novels while working at Pembroke College.”

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