It's increasingly hard to keep track of the potential projects pencilled into Antoine Fuqua's diary. Over the last year or so his name has come up connected to Prisoners,** Escobar**, Southpaw, The Tomb, Storming Las Vegas, Afterburn, Hunter Killer, Steel Town, a Chinese historical epic and a biopic of Tupac Shakur. Now however, Fuqua is adding Chicagoland to the list, and would seem to be making it a priority, since he actively fought for the job at New Line, winning it over a shortlist of other directors that included Stephen Gaghan.
Last we heard, Fuqua's next gig looked to be the submarine thriller Hunter Killer, with Gerard Butler. Shooting was planned for late last year or early this, with a release earmarked for December. That appears to have fallen through, since the film is still listed by the IMDb as being in pre-production.
The Eminem boxing drama Southpaw, meanwhile, has definitely been defeated on points: MTV have picked up an interview with Marshall's manager, saying that the rapper is concentrating on his music for the forseeable, and has backburnered any acting plans.
Chicagoland then, may be the film that finally gets Fuqua back behind the camera, following Brooklyn's Finest two years ago. Not much is known about this one so far, other than that it's a heist thriller, with a screenplay by Peter Morgan (Last King Of Scotland, Frost/Nixon). According to Variety, it's somewhat along the lines of Training Day, Fuqua's 2001 gangsta cop epic that bagged Denzel Washington an Oscar.
True to form, there's no start date yet. We'll keep you posted.