The critical and commercial success of The Town, Ben Affleck’s latest directorial outing seems to have afforded him a lot of choice in terms of his next project. There had been talk that he would sign on for Tales from the Gangster Squad for Warner Bros, but reports came in that he passed on the project.
The lastest rumour is that Affleck is looking at “Replay” a film about a radio journalist in his 40’s who wakes up as his 18 year old self and gets to live his life over. The novel on which the film is based was apparently first published in 1989 and a film adaptation was set up back then. It disappeared into limbo but has now resurfaced with any number of actors apparently now circling the lead role.
What we don’t know yet (aside from whether Affleck decides to do the film) is whether Affleck would intend to play the lead character as well and if so, how he would be “de-aged” to 18. Would they cast that character with a look-alike? Use Benjamin Button-style F/X? Or just keep the same actor but playing a younger version of himself, without any CG-jiggery-pokery?
That’s an awful lot of ifs, buts and maybes, but given how successfully Affleck managed to direct and star in The Town, it does not seem like a stretch for him to do the same again, even on a project that appears very tonally different from his previous outings as a director.
The first hurdle will of course be getting Affleck to sign on the project, which is by no means a given, since he is also said to be interested in directing The Trade, a David Mandel-scripted film about a 1970’s wife swap between two pitchers for the New York Yankees. Apparently it was quite a scandal.
Affleck has given some notes to Jason Smilovic (Lucky Number Slevin), who is drafting the screenplay for Replay and apparently he will wait until he sees revised drafts for Replay and The Trade before deciding which project to go for.
