Nice to have you back Mel. Even though I have been enjoying your directorial exploits over the past couple of years, I always looked forward to the acting side of your career.

Variety say Gibson after turning down a ton of projects in the last five years (including Lethal Weapon 5) has committed to star in Edge of Darkness an adaptation of a six-hour long 1985 BBC mini-series which was directed by Martin Campbell (Casino Royale) - who is also on board for this adaptation.

The script comes from William Monahan (The Departed) and it will be Gibson’s first leading role since Signs in 2002 and his first on screen part since The Signing Detective in 03…

Gibson will play a straitlaced police investigator whose activist daughter is killed. He plunges into the case and uncovers systemic corruption that led to his daughter’s death.

Gibson had long been a fan of the mini and was receptive when King and Campbell approached him several months ago.

Production will begin in August - and it will be produced by Graham King’s GK Films banner (he went after Monahan personally) and by the BBC.

The original show was a bit before my time. Research tells me it starred Bob Peck and former Bond villain John Doe Baker and that it’s extremely well respected. A 9.1 IMDB rating (admittedly after less than a 1,000 votes), the series is thought to be the very best of British original drama and was dealing with the atmosphere of the Thatcher administration and the secrecy surrounding the nuclear industry in the U.K.

Can’t believe I’ve never heard of it.

Great to see Gibson back - Monahan is a great screenwriter - the original material looks very rich (though has potential to be turned into cliche crap) and anything that delays Campbell or takes him away from The Birds remake is very welcomed by me. Anything that causes that film problems makes me happy.

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William Monahan (The Departed, Kingdom of Heaven) who must have invented a way to avoid sleep, has added yet another project to his ever growing schedule.

Monahan has been hired by Paramount to write a screenplay out of this incredible story…

The son of a police chief, Keene fell from grace after he was caught dealing drugs. As an alternative to a 10 years-to-life sentence, he was allowed to cozy up to a man authorities believed murdered 25 young women. Only the prison psychiatrist knew Keene was undercover, plus a visiting “girlfriend” who was actually an FBI agent.

So it’s shares many of the undercover themes Monahan wrote for The Departed and also has a bit of Silence of the Lambs tension built in and maybe some One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (think they will actually hint at the police chief being insane?). How cool does this movie sound?

The incredible true story is set to be published in Playboy later this year.

source - variety

Warner Bros. have secured a big money deal to remake the surprise South Korean smash hit thriller The Chaser for the Western movie audience, with writer William Monahan and actor/producer Leonardo DiCaprio in early talks. This of course brings the great aura of The Departed about it, as both Monaghan and DiCaprio worked on that Asian remake which won the Academy Award back in 2007 (as did Monahan for best screenplay adaptation).

The deal was said to be $1 million up front for the remake rights plus more incentives if it were to perform well at the box office. In it’s homeland, film has so far grossed $20 million after 20 days of release on what was a very modest budget.

The film is based loosely on the exploits of a real-life serial killer, played by Ha Jung-woo (Never Forever).

You know, if every Asian remake was as good as Scorsese’s The Departed, maybe I wouldn’t get so worked up about them all the time. And both the title “The Chaser” and the above photo with an actor in a cap, certainly gives you the feeling of that movie. This could be good!

Here is the trailer for the movie, sorry I couldn’t find an English version…

source - variety

Directed by: Martin Scorsese

Written by: William Monahan

Based on the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs written by Alan Mak & Felix Chong

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Vera Farmiga, Alec Baldwin, Anthony Anderson, Kevin Corrigan, James Badge Dale, David O’Hara

Film was released on October 6th 2006 in the U.K. and U.S.

Review by Matt Holmes 

I don’t think any words that I can articulate will do this movie justice. Martin Scorsese has nailed it. The Departed truly has to be up their with any work the legendary director has ever done (no small statement), man you know I hate it that Scorsese’s best work in years is the crime genre because contrary to what most critics say… he is much more than a crime director but fuck it, THIS FILM IS AWESOME.

Worried, anxious, sweating on this remake of the 2002 Hong Kong flick Infernal Affairs was I for many months but I should have known better when it was one of the greatest living directors at the helm. This is not a basic retread. It’s not just a hack remake job for a quick buck which we are too often given with new sheens on old movies these days but is instead an incredibly fast paced, intense and unforgiving crime drama that is deserving to stand on it’s own right which carrys Scorsese’s individual signature and style perfectly.

It carrys the same themes as the original - the blurring or right and wrong - the question of own identity not just in life but in relationship to life and the workplace, it touches on the same fear of masculinity of films like Raging Bull and Taxi Driver but it feels totally fresh too. It ain’t that much different a story than Goodfella’s but it feels like a new chapter for Scorsese whilst watching it.

In what should be a confusing ride, Scorsese manages to shoot a complex story into a simple and compelling work of film which never leaves you wondering what each character’s motivations are. Every scene has it’s purpose, every shot is meticulously used. Nothing is left to waste in a movie nearly two and a half hours in length, which just like his last feature The Aviator…. flies by in no time.

Just like Infernal Affairs, THE DEPARTED is a engrossing thriller about two undercover moles - one of them a cop involved with a underground crime ring and the other a mob player that is infilitrated the police department. In classic 70’s style thriller - neither knows what the other guy looks like and most basically live the life of two guys, not letting the other identity fall into the other.

Scorsese has set the movie in Boston and has managed to get some of the best career work of his amazing A-List cast, many of whom are working for Marty for the first time. Quite simply, there is not one member of the cast that isn’t at the top of their game. Jack Nicholson has been getting all the praise from critics for his performance as the “rock star” mob boss villain Frank Costello and despite it being a typical Jack performance, it’s easily the most comfortable performance he has given in years.

In the kind of role Joe Pesci had in the 90’s, Nicholson is that wild eyed mob boss - the one who has mood swings and is vulnerable to changing his minds and motives as it suits… that often means bad news for those closest to him. He is equal parts charming and sinister, he is psychotic and a dirty unpleasant human being. It’s the kind of over the top performance he has eaten up for years and long may it continue.

Leading the film is Leonardo DiCaprio, with a shue-in Academy Award performance as Bill Costigan in what might be the most difficult role of his career. The WHOLE film relies on getting the audience emotionally involved in his character and if he didn’t deliver, the whole movie wouldn’t work but he nails it. Scorsese keeps giving DiCaprio these on screen challenges but like Robert De Niro in the past, he can stand toe to toe and is not letting the big man down.

Great performance from one of the best actors working today. He is an unconventional hero character but it damn sure works in this film and his emotional scenes with Madolyn (Vera Farmiga) rank as some of the best the film has to offer. Farmiga is an actress I didn’t know much about before this movie but she can damn well act and is a pretty little thing… if I was being picky though I would have asked for more of her character to be developed.

Matt Damon is superb as the smug bastard cop Colin Sullivan, who you hate even more than Nicholson. The wicked smile of the guy who has everything but inside of the exterior facade has nothing inside is a hard role to pull off but Damon manages it. He is an empty shell and you can see it. You want the guy to get what’s coming to him so badly, you almost want to jump onto the screen and beat him to a bloody pulp.

Even Mark Wahlberg, who I’ve never truly been that much of a fan of in this genre gives a superb turn as one of the true honest cops. He starts off as an absolute prick on screen but it’s only later that the genius of his performance pays off. Ray Winstone, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin… Jesus what a cast… and none of them are phoning in their performances here.

The soundtrack should not be forgotten to, as Scorsese blasts out killer tunes such as Comfortably Numb and his favourite band The Rolling Stones and their “Gimmie Shelter” which he blends in with the action and emotional moments so well it adds so much to the film. They are entertaining songs for what is one of the most entertaining mainstream and blockbustery he has ever done. The title credits begin quite a few minutes into it to set the tone for the rest of the flick which is without doubt a highly stylised, fast paced marvel.