Remember Mimi Leder, who had the privilege of directing DreamWorks’ first movie, The Peacemaker, then went on to make Deep Impact before dropping the ball with the awful Pay It Forward?
Well, perhaps to show that it’s harder for a woman director to make it in Hollywood following a flop, it’s taken Leder almost eight years to get back behind the camera again. But she finally did it and The Code – or Thick As Thieves, depending on what you read – a heist thriller starring Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas is currently awaiting release.
And clearly now that Leder has the bit between her teeth again, she doesn’t want to slow down. So she’s lined up Remember Their Names, a WWII movie featuring Woody Guthrie in more ways than one.
Not only will the film feature many of the folk singer and activist’s songs, but Guthrie himself will be a major character, as the film will focus on his time in the U.S. Merchant Marine, when he, Cisco Houston and Jim Longhi toured and sung their way across the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, Sicily and Normandy.
The film will be based on Longhi’s memoir, Woody, Cisco & Me, which was adapted for the screen by Leder and her brother, Reuben. Leder hopes to make this her next project. We wish her well – she did a good job with Deep Impact, especially, and it’s been too damn long.