Pitt, Norton Agree to Play Together
This entry was posted on 9/13/2007 5:27 PM and is filed under Casting About,Musings.
I'm somewhat late to this party, but
Variety (in addition to other outlets) is reporting that
Brad Pitt and Edward Norton have agreed to re-team for State of Play, a political drama penned by Matthew Michael Carnahan and Tony Gilroy, and set to be helmed by
The Last King of Scotland director
Kevin Macdonald.
In the film — based on the six-hour British miniseries of the same name — Norton will play a congressman whose speedy rise is
threatened by an investigation into the death of his mistress. Pitt
plays a politico-turned-journalist whose relationship with the lawmaker is
compromised when he oversees his newspaper's investigation into the
murder, and subsequently develops a relationship with the pol's estranged wife.
Universal is fast-tracking the project in anticipation of next year's strike, which means a quick turnaround for Norton, who will jump into
State of Play right after he wraps
The Incredible Hulk. This is
good news all around — for Macdonald, certainly, who scores a worthy narrative follow-up to
The Last King of Scotland — but also Pitt and Norton, who just really seem to have an excellent rapport with one another. Yes,
Fight Club was iconic and ahead of its time, and the glow of that collaboration is part of the allure. But
there's just something about their individual off-screen personas that really jibes and rubs me the right way — maybe it's the old refrain from the Pet Shop Boys' "Opportunities" — and I have a feeling this cleverly inverted casting will be great fun to watch.
