What is it today with 30 Days Of Night alumni and Oren Moverman?
First, we get the news that 30 Days’ director, David Slade, has signed on to helm Unthinkable, a thriller co-written by Moverman (who wrote I’m Not There), and now comes word that Ben Foster, who played The Stranger in the vampire flick, has taken the lead in The Messenger, which is to be Moverman’s directorial debut.
A quick look at the IMDb shows that Moverman, Slade and Foster have never worked together, so either they met during networking, or it’s all one giant coincidence. We’ll obviously get our top team of newshounds on it right away.
Anyway, The Messenger is a military drama, which will star Foster as a young officer forced to work with a partner he hates in what we’re told is the least desirable job in the army. What that is is currently unclear, but we’re betting that it’s got something to do with being a messenger.
To make matters worse, though, Foster then goes and falls in love with the widow of a soldier.
Sounds intriguing. We’re certainly intrigued by the casting of Foster who, after playing Angel in X-Men: The Last Stand, went the other way in 2007, playing a psychotic sleazebag in 3:10 To Yuma and a sleazy psycho in 30 Days Of Night. The Messenger will test his leading man potential.
As for Moverman, he’s been a writer for some time now, with a whole host of projects on the go, according to our Internet Movie Database chums. But this will mark his first time behind the camera – to be followed up, no doubt, by movies starring Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston, with Best Boy duties to be performed by John Enright.