The Body Of Lies premiere wasn’t your average Ridley Scott production. No helicopters, no missiles and no guns. Just Ridders, DiCaprio, Mark Strong and an unexplained appearance from X-Factor dance svengali Brian Friedman.
Body Of Lies is a CIA thriller set in the middle east with DiCaprio as agent on the ground Roger Farris, controlled from afar by tubby strategist Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe) and involved with the head of Jordanian security (Strong) in their work to bring down the head of a terror cell.
So, in the midst of countless questions about politics (especially Obama’s presidential win), Empire threw in some of the really important questions. That is, not what is happening with the world, but what is happening in the world of Ridley Scott and Leonardo DiCaprio.
One of the projects that has us all in a lather, is Scott’s long awaited adaptation of Joe Haldeman’s 1974 book The Forever War, which has talked recently of as “a bit of The Odyssey, by way of Blade Runner.” But doesn’t this sound a lot like Warner Bros.’ planned version of Ulysses 31, erm, we mean the Homeric epic, set in space, starring Brad Pitt?
Scott is sure that “it’s completely different”. Apart from the fact that his project has been knocking about for the last couple of decades, his odyssey “takes place, randomly across 800 years.” It’s all about relativity functions apparently. Whereas, Brad’s film will be mainly focussed on ancient greek/80s/ futuristic hair.
He also lifted the lid on the long lag time on Nottingham. As well as the widely reported seasonal issues, he told us that the project had "a bad start", admitting there were script issues still to be resolved. He assured that he is: “still working on it with the same writer and we’ll get there.” He also mentioned that he wasn’t a fan of the many Robin Hood incarnations, noting: “I don’t think it’s that difficult to make something pretty good of this.”
The other film we are holding our breath for, is the next collaboration between Ridley and Leo: their updated adaptation of dystopian classic Brave New World.
Ridley admits that it’s “a tough interpretation” as they attempt to “take the idealism gone wrong, the form of perversion” from Aldous Huxley’s story and contextualise it in modern times. But it is especially trying because it is more of a metaphorical story than George Orwell’s 1984 which was more accurate in its literal predictions for the future.
Leo remarked that the project is still in development: “In Hollywood you develop things for years and wait for a good script to come out- it’s like dice at the end of the day,” and confirmed their intention to bring the story right up to date.
Whether Leo will take the lead role of Bernard is still unconfirmed, but he admits that the project is one he “would love to do with Ridley, it’s just a matter of getting the script right.”
Mark Strong turned up with his Rock N Rolla co-star Toby Kebbell, who is currently filming Jerry Bruckheimer’s Prince Of Persia in London and training hard for his big fight scene with Jake Gyllenhall. Once that’s out the way though, he revealed he doesn’t have any work lined up. He would love to team up with Dead Man’s Shoes director Shane Meadows again, but realises: “if you’ve worked with Shane once then you’re lucky. I really hope I get to again.”
So, we know that DiCaprio and Scott are all booked up for the foreseeable future, but we hereby start a petition for the employment of the young Kebbell. Mr Meadows, consider this your call to action. Join the ranks below.