| While it has taken a while to fully coalesce into a film, revenge drama Out Of The Furnace is finally hitting a higher gear, with Christian Bale, Zoe Saldana and Casey Affleck attached to star and Crazy Heart’s Scott Cooper directing. It looks like Billy Bob Thornton and Forest Whitaker will be joining them to play two of the script’s shadier characters. Furnace, which, back when writer Brad Ingelsby originally sold it was called The Low Dweller, finds Slim (Bale) getting out of the slammer after years spent inside for murder. Sick of his former criminal life, our hero just wants to live quietly and marry his long-time girlfriend (Saldana). But, because that would be pretty dull for a revenge drama, things don’t go Slim’s way. His brother (Affleck) is murdered and he swears to track down and punish those responsible. Now Whitaker is close to the role of a sleazy bookie involved in Affleck’s death and Thornton is being talked up as the film’s big villain, a role that Viggo Mortensen had previously been considering. In related news, Ingelsby has sold yet another script, this time pocketing cash from production company Indian Paintbrush for The Signal. Everyone involved is staying quiet about the details of that one, save to announce that it’s an adventure film that sees some distinctly sci-fi happenings trouble a family over a weekend getaway… | 
