After years in development (and we do mean years: this thing has been around so long that Sean Bailey, one of the original writers, is president of production at Disney now), thriller Solace is finally ambling towards our screens. Last May saw Anthony Hopkins circling one of the lead roles, and now he’s locked in alongside Colin Farrell.
Solace, which over the years has seen script contributions from Bailey, Ted Griffin (who originally wrote it as a spec), James Vanderbilt and Peter Morgan, follows what happens when a retired, reclusive doctor (Hopkins) is cajoled back into the public eye by an FBI agent to help solve a series of bloody murders.
See, the doc used to be an ace investigator, helping the authorities to track down maniacs, but lost his nerve when his daughter died tragically. Now there’s a new serial killer out there (played by Farrell) so the doc’s needed for just one more case…
It’s interesting to see Hopkins tracking a serial slasher for once: he already has experience (and an Oscar for) playing the other side of the killer coin, although we suppose Lecter too helped to track down killers.
Afonso Poyart is in the director’s chair, and** Journey 2 **producers Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson have plucked the script from the thrift shop of turnaround, dusted it off and found the money to get it made. Shooting will start in May.
Farrell is at work on Akiva Goldsman’s Winter’s Tale, and he has Dead Man Down, Saving Mr Banks and voice work on Epic in the bag. Hopkins is back on our screens this week playing the title role in Hitchcock, and will also show up in Red 2 and Thor: The Dark World.