Boston has proved to be a fertile breeding ground for crime films, and now one of the genre’s most frequent visitors is booking a trip to the city. Warner Bros. has set up White Devil for The Yards’ James Gray to direct.
Despite a seemingly far-fetched storyline – white orphan raised by Chinese family rises to a high level of command within the Chinese mafia – Gray’s script will actually be based on a real-life case in Massachusetts that features drug trafficking in the city. There are no other details yet as it’s still early days for the project, but it certainly seems to be something he can handle.
The writer-director is still attached to develop** The Lost City Of Z** at Paramount with Brad Pitt’s Plan B company, which focuses on Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett, a real-life British explorer who disappeared, along with his party, in 1925 while searching for the mysterious lost city. Many people have attempted to retrace his steps since, but all have failed. Clearly, Pitt will be happy to keep working on projects that include the letter 'Z' (call it the Sesame Street approach to filmmaking) following the surprise success of World War Z, which has now made more than $500 million worldwide**.**
Gray, meanwhile, brought his latest, The Immigrant,** **to Cannes this year. That one is awaiting a release date.