The project's been in development at Gaumont for at least three years, but Paranoia has now suddenly gained traction, with the news that Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, and The Hunger Games' Liam Hemsworth are all set to star. Robert Luketic will direct the corporate thriller, set in "the world of telecom giants". It is, as Bob Hoskins used to tell us, good to talk.
The film is based on Joseph Finder's 2004 novel, which picked up some decent reviews for its non-stop action and John Grisham-y plot. It involves a junior product line manager at the fictional Wyatt Telecom, who impersonates a senior VP in order to liberate a hundred grand of the company's money to fund a buddy's retirement party. Noble motives, but still enough to land him with life in prison... unless he agrees to infiltrate Wyatt's biggest competitor Trion Systems as a spy, to discover what he can about their top secret project.
Hemsworth has the lead as man-in-trouble Adam Cassidy, which likely makes Oldman the Wyatt CEO Nicholas Wyatt, and Ford the head of Trion, Jock Goddard, whose personal assistant Cassidy becomes. Hemsworth is already locked in, but official word on Oldman and Ford so far is that they're in "advanced negotiations".
The original adaptation was by Barry Levy (Vantage Point), and the most recent draft of the screenplay has been hammered out by Jason Hall, who wrote sex comedy Spread, and an as-yet unproduced and untitled Platinum Dunes project for Michael Bay and Taylor Lautner. Shooting on Paranoia starts in the summer.