Dear John Cusack… We realise the American Film Market is on right now and that producers want to sign big names like you to their films. But when you insist on joining not one, not two but three movies in the same week, could you not at least organise some sort of Cusackapalooza and announce them all at once? No? Oh, Okay. Today, then, comes breathless with the news that the actor will take the lead in Airspace.
The aerial action thriller has another notable name, Roger Avary, set to direct a tale of a workaholic charter pilot (Cusack) flying home to his family.
When he discovers a mysterious briefcase in his cockpit, he realises something might be up, and not just in terms of the laws of physics. But things take a turn for the hairy when a MiG fighter jet starts to target his plane and he enters the (wait for it) danger zone. That last bit officially still needs to be said in the style of secret agent Sterling Archer.
Briana Hartman wrote the script after working up the idea with Michael B Chait. Avary is involved with the film already, as he’s been applying his Oscar-winning talents to a re-write.
That’s not the only Avary-attached project announced at the AFM. Panorama Media and Samuel Hadida put out the news that he’ll write and direct an adaptation of cherished gaming classic Castle Wolfenstein.
The plot will follow a young US Army captain and a British special agent infiltrating the titular stronghold to derail Hitler’s plan for a new super weapon. There, they discover the SS Paranormal Division and must battle their way through horrific Nazi nasties.
“I’ve been playing the Wolfenstein games since I was a kid, and feel that their outlandish sensibility has deeply influenced my own writing and directing throughout my career,” Avary says in a statement. “I have always thought Wolfenstein, transformed and opened for the screen to wider audiences not familiar with the games, would be a major cinematic experience, which is why I introduced it to Samuel”. This could be an awesome melding of filmmaker and subject…