Ray director Taylor Hackford has been taking it easy since his last film, presumably hanging at Jamie Foxx' house admiring his Oscar, or sitting at home with wife Helen Mirren admiring hers, or admiring his own 1979 Oscar for Best Short Film, Live Action. But now he's going back to work, with the news that he's signed on for Good Luck Mr Anthony.
The film is based on the true story of Lawrence Anthony, a South African game reserve owner who became concerned for the fate of the animals in the Baghdad zoo when the Iraq War broke out in 2003. Knowing that most zoo animals die of neglect or are killed during wars, the big-hearted but possibly insane Anthony secretly crossed the border from Kuwait seven days after the invasion began and made his way to the capital, where he found half the 1,000 animals already dead. He lured back the frightened zoo keepers and engaged mercenaries to combat insurgents and looters to preserve the rest, and stayed in Baghdad for six months until the danger had passed (largely anyway).
Aryam Bernstein and Terry Jastow wrote the script, but there's no word yet on cast or a start date. But despite the raft of Iraq War/ Middle East dramas headed our way, this one might just have enough cute critters in it to stand out from the crowd. Because we hear that Robert Redford's Afghanistan drama Lions For Lambs doesn't actually have either in. Which is false advertising if you ask us.