Last June, word began to leak out about Warren Beatty’s next planned project, a film about the live and loves of reclusive tycoon Howard Hughes. Little has been heard about the film since then, but Beatty has been busy tracking down a cast, with Felicity Jones now in line to play the female lead.
The film, which still doesn’t have an official title (or indeed, all of its financing in place), will chronicle part of Hughes life story, with Beatty directing and playing the lead. Jones, last seen in The Tempest, will be a young woman who falls for the businessman’s driver and assistant, but then develops a thing for the man himself. Judging by Beatty's casting, this is set a little later in his life than, say, The Aviator.
As for the driver, Beatty is still narrowing his choices down, though Justin Timberlake and Somewhere’s Alden Ehrenreich are apparently among those under consideration. There’s also a chance that the likes of Jack Nicholson, Alec Baldwin and Annette Bening (AKA Mrs Beatty) could show up on screen.
Beatty’s been working on this one for ages and is looking to get it shooting next year. It’ll mark his first directing gig since 1998’s Bulworth.