Fresh from stealing Drive Angry from under Nicolas Cage's flaring nostrils, William Fichtner is next shoring up the already impressive cast of Phantom, which so far boasts Ed Harris, Andy Garcia and Natascha McElhone.
The project was first mooted back in May, but is now officially moving forward, with financing from the RCR Media group (who also picked up the currently-directorless Highlander at Cannes). Set on a Soviet sub during the Cold War,** Phantom** involves a Russian captain juggling multiple problems: on the one hand he's got a rogue KGB unit to contend with, and on the other he's got supernatural forces trying to take control of his nuclear wessel. That does not sound like a good day.
Hollywood's last attempt at a haunted submarine story was David Twohy's Below ten years ago, co-written by Darren Aronofsky, but more-or-less disowned by Dimension. It sank at the box office. RCR will be hoping for rather more from Phantom, which has Todd Robinson (Lonely Hearts) writing and directing. Seems like the sea is in his blood: he also wrote Ridley Scott's White Squall.
Shooting starts in ("Scream for me!") Long Beach, California in October.