Brian De Palma has been MIA for the past little while, but not without reason. In 2006 and 2007 he delivered a double whammy of disappointments in failed noir “The Black Dahlia” and the Iraq war drama “Redacted” and he’s been trying to get something going ever since. Things were in motion for him to direct his long-gestating psychological thriller “Toyer” last fall, but it looks like the project never quite got off the ground and at the beginning of the year he signed on to direct a remake of Alain Corneau’s “Love Crime” though nothing has been heard about that since. So hopefully, this next project will actually see it’s way through to rolling in front of cameras.
De Palma is now set to take on “The Key Man,” a thriller penned by Joby Harold, the guy who wrote “All You Need Is Kill” but whose only produced credit is that ludicrous movie “Awake” where Hayden Christensen finds himself awake but paralyzed during surgery. So here’s hoping this one is a bit better than that, and at least its ambition is in the right place. Said to be a thriller in the vein of “Three Days of the Condor” and “Marathon Man” the story follows a single father who’s targeted by U.S. government agents because his body contains answers to important national secrets. Okay, so maybe it will be silly. But that said, De Palma always has a knack for turning the silly into something delightfully pulpy so this could go in fun directions we suppose.
U.S. distribution has already been acquired by Open Road and with financing in place this looks to be a sure thing. Production on the film will kick off by the end of the year. [Deadline]
