Academy Award-winning actress Charlize Theron, best known for a wide range of roles from her Oscar-winning performance in 2003’s Monster to her turn as a ‘superhero’ opposite Will Smith and Jason Bateman in Hancock a few years back, is now in talks to lead a new crime thriller project called Cities of Refuge, Deadline report.
The script comes from newcomer Brandon Willer, and has been optioned by Inferno Entertainment, a new production company who seem to be setting their sights pretty damn big in the years to come.
Inferno have one film under their belt already, The Experiment, which starred Adrien Brody, Forest Whitaker, and Cam Cigandet, all very recognisable faces. And excluding Cities of Refuge, they’ve got three more big-star projects lined up in the next yew years. One is an adaptation of Arabian Nights, to be led by up-and-coming Liam Hemsworth. Another is The Host, to be led by another up-and-comer Soairse Ronan, directed by Lord of War’s Andrew Niccol, and adapted by Niccol from Twilight’s Stephenie Meyer’s original novel. And the third is a project I really can’t wait for, Cogan’s Trade, which has an awesome cast that includes Brad Pitt, Ray Liotta, James Gandolfini, Richard Jenkins, and Scoot McNairy.
Clearly, Inferno are set to be a company that will be very much talked about in the years to come, and adding Cities of Refuge to their production list should only help to improve their reputation, especially if talks with Theron go well.
“[Theron] would play a female investigator brought in to solve a brutal murder and kidnapping in which things aren’t what they seem.”
Nothing groundbreaking or genre-defining, but that of course doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be a great film. Theron is a terrific actress, who deserves every bit the recognition she receives, and has done a tremendous job in the past of playing strong, determined lead female roles. She’ll next be seen in Young Adult, the film that sees Juno’s director and writer, Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody, working together again for what should be a fantastic film. She’s recently finished work on Ridley Scott’s upcoming Alien-esque Prometheus film, and is hard at work filming Snow White and the Evil Huntsman, starring Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth, in which she will play The Evil Queen.
Definitely a number of great roles we can look forward to seeing from Theron in the years to come, with Young Adult being the first out the gate on 10th February next year, and with any luck, current talks will go well and she’ll sign on for Cities of Refuge too. No word yet on any potential directors, but hopefully if Theron comes on board, we can expect someone awesome to sign on to helm the project. More news on this as we get it.
