Malin Akerman, Ryan Phillippe and Taylor Kitsch – soon to be seen as Gambit in the forthcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine – have signed on to star in the indie drama, The Bang Bang Club.
The Bang Bang Club was a group of four South African combat photographers who became renowned for their stark depictions of violence during the last days of apartheid.
The photographers were Kevin Carter, Ken Oosterbroek, Greg Marinovich, and Joao Silva. Only Marinovich and Silva are still alive today – Oosterbroek was killed by friendly fire in 1994, while Carter committed suicide in July of that same year, shortly after receiving the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography.
In fact, Marinovich and Silva wrote the memoir, on which The Bang Bang Club will be based, with South African documentarian Steven Silver writing and directing. Filming will start next month on location in and around Johannesburg.
Phillippe will play Marinovich, while Kitsch will play Carter, who was, of course, the subject of a song on the Manic Street Preachers’ 1996 album, Everything Must Go (“Hi, Time Magazine/Hi, Pulitzer Prize…”).
Akerman, commendably going down the indie route when she could reasonably be expected to nab another blockbuster after Watchmen’s success, will play a photo editor who dealt with the Club.
We have to say that this sounds very intriguing, and could be a dark horse for Oscar when the time comes. For more on The Bang Bang Club, the memoir – full title, The Bang Bang Club: Snapshots From A Hidden War – is available online.