Kate Winslet kicks off this year appearing as a woman who harbours a criminal (Labor Day) and an authoritarian overseer in a dystopian future (Divergent). For her next trick, it appears she’s turning to crime. No, she isn’t knocking over her local Barclays; Winslet is in talks to join the cast of John Hilcoat’s new crime drama **Triple Nine.
Hilcoat has been pushing this one through development for a while now, and appears to be finally zeroing on an impressive cast after a few false starts. Matt Cook’s script will follow a group of thieves who hatch a deadly plan to kill a young L.A. police officer in order to distract the authorities' attention from a heist their colleagues are trying to pull across town.
Casey Affleck will play the officer, while Chronicle’s Michael B. Jordan will be a streetwise fellow cop who conspires with Chiwetel Ejiofor’s master thief to double-cross Affleck’s character. And they're not all: according to Deadline, Aaron Paul, Gal Gadot, Teresa Palmer and Michael Pena are all now also in talks for roles.
From the sounds of it, Winslet may end up replacing Cate Blanchett, who had been in talks to sign on alongside Christoph Waltz, but who is not mentioned in Variety’s report about Winslet starting the casting tango. That doesn’t necessarily mean the Blue Jasmine star is out, however – and if they all do show up, this could be something great.