After some jostling between the project and another possible “City” title (more on that in a second), it would seem as though gritty noir **Broken City **is now cementing itself as Book of Eli co-director Allen Hughes next, solo, film. Why so? Try the fact that Russell Crowe has jumped aboard.
You may remember that last week, reports surfaced about Hughes also considering Motor City, which was trying to attract Captain America himself, Chris Evans, to star. But since that one is further away from production, and with Mark Wahlberg having jumped from David O Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook to Broken City’s other big leading role, it seems that’ll be the one to go first.
Wahlberg is playing a former cop who, like so many of his cinematic counterparts, is filling his time as a private eye. We’re guessing they don’t go to work on ice cream vans because that would be dull. Anyway, he gets hired by the mayor (Crowe) to look into whether Mrs Mayor is cheating on him. She is, and then her lover turns up dead, leading the dogged PI to start digging into the politician’s business and uncovering a real estate scandal.
Crowe, who has just finished working on RZA’s martial arts action fest** The Man With The Iron Fists**, will slip into costume as Jor-El for a brief appearance in Man of Steel before heading to Broken City.
According to Deadline, Hughes has the cash in place to start making the thriller from Brian Tucker's Black Listed script in November.