After years – and we do mean years – lurking on the back shelf in development chambers, it would appear that high concept hitman thriller Gemini Man's time may finally have come. Ang Lee came aboard to direct in the last few days and now Will Smith is in talks to star.
First pitched to Disney in 1997, the story, which has nothing to do with the TV series about the bloke with the watch that makes him invisible, follows an aging hitman who is trying to get out of the business and retire to a more peaceful life. Because no movie assassin can ever leave the job easily, this one faces an intriguing twist – he'll have to fight his own clone, 25 years younger and at the peak of his powers.
Of course, we've been here before a time or two: filmmakers have been circling (and, in the case of Joe Carnahan creating test reels to see how to bring the idea to life) for years, with an effects challenge and no results. But with producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Murphy keeping the flame burning, the project got a fresh jolt of energy when Skydance picked up the project last October, and now here we are with a director in final negotiations and Smith circling.
The actor's schedule might come into play here; he's already in early talks to play the Genie in Disney's new Aladdin and there are other potential movies jockeying for position, but it's the most hopeful movement for the movie yet.