Following on from his run of high concept scripts (and writing/directing gigs), Andrew Niccol made 2005's Lord Of War, which starred Nicolas Cage as arms dealer Yuri Orlov. Despite it failing to set the box office alight, it is getting a belated sequel, called Lords Of War, which will see Cage return and also feature Bill Skarsgård.
In the original, Cage played Yuri Orlov, tracked from his early days in the 1980s in Little Odessa, selling guns to mobsters in his local neighborhood, through to his ascension through the decade of excess and indulgence into the early 1990s, where he forms a business partnership with an African warlord and his psychotic son.
Then there’s his relationship through the years with his younger brother (Jared Leto), his marriage to a famous model (Bridget Moynahan()){href=')' }, his relentless pursuit by a determined Interpol Agent (Ethan Hawke) and his inner demons that sway between his drive for success and the immorality of what he does.
For the new movie, Yuri discovers he has a son, Anton (Skarsgård), who isn’t trying to right his father’s wrongs – he’s trying to top them. Not only selling guns but the “trigger pullers” too, Anton is amassing a mercenary army to fight America’s Middle East conflicts. This is the story of Yuri and Anton’s bitter rivalry — even at odds over the same woman. Who will prevail when father and son go to war? We can certainly see Skarsgård's energy lining up/playing well off of Cage's.
"There is so much more to explore with these characters. Plato said it best – ‘Only the dead have seen the end of war,'" says Niccol. "I’m looking forward to spending more time in the company of the charming devil that is Yuri Orlov and now his illegitimate son –– who turns out to not be legitimate in any way.”
Niccol is aiming to shoot the new movie in the autumn, with rights on sale at the Cannes film market, should you want to plunk some cash down.