He’s been pondering his next job since before he put the finishing touches to Bruce Willis OAP CIA thriller Red, and now director Robert Schwentke has officially signed on the dotted to direct his next film. The winner? Universal’s **R.I.P.D.
Adapted by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi from Peter Lenkov’s Dark Horse comic, the story follows a police force made up entirely of dead people. It’s their job to keep the law among the spirits and a recently slaughtered cop joins their ranks intent on stopping the man who murdered him from killing again. But first he’ll need to learn the ropes of post-mortem policing from his partner, a gunslinger who has been walking the beat on the other side for centuries.
Ryan Reynolds has managed to find a spare window of availability in his busy schedule, pencilling in R.I.P.D. for late next summer, once his work on comedy The Change Up and action thriller Safe House is complete. Not to mention Green Lanter****n. And, presumably, once he’s had a bit of a rest.
Schwentke also needs the time to prepare to shoot the film, since the complicated design and effects process will mean he has a lot of work ahead of him.
And he still has other likely directing jobs still floating around, though the Osterman Weekend adaptation at Summit has just been sent to a new writer for a fresh pass on the script and real-life sub drama Shadow Divers has been in development for so long that another couple of years won’t hurt it. It’ll just need a few more barnacles scraping off if Schwentke ever does get round to it…