@David Mamet
Al Pacino, Viggo Mortensen, John Travolta, Shia LaBeouf, NBR Award winner Rebecca Pidgeon (Heist) and Golden Globe nominated actress-singer Courtney Love (The People vs. Larry Flynt) have been cast in the thriller Assassination, Deadline is reporting. The film, will be directed by Pulitzer Prize-winner and Oscar nominated Wag the Dog scribe, David Mamet, who also co-wrote the script with Nicholas Celozzi.
The film, which was previously called 2 Days/1963, will be presented to buyers at the film market in Cannes this week. Arclight Films handling the drama’s international sales.
Assassination will retell the titular murder of John F. Kennedy from the mob’s perspective. The story will reimagine his death as a hit ordered by Chicago mob kingpin Sam Giancana. (Celozzi is Giancana’s grandnephew.)
The drama’s plot will will focus on the events that took place 48 hours before JFK’s murder. It will also showcase the eponymous assassination as payback for the American president’s attempt to undermine the mob after they helped get him elected. The plot point formed a major thread of writer-director Oliver Stone’s Oscar-winning 1990 political thriller, JFK.
Assassination is being produced by Corey Large (It Follows) and Nicholas Celozzi (The Class). John Burnham, Arclight Films’ Gary Hamilton and Pia Patatian, Jordan Nott, Bernie Gewissler and Amar Balaggan are serving as executive producers on the movie. 308 Enterprises is financing the film, which is scheduled to start production in September in Vancouver.
“With the undeniable talent of David Mamet at the helm and our stellar cast led by Viggo Mortensen, Al Pacino, Shia LaBeouf and John Travolta, the stars have truly aligned. Assassination is a riveting and gripping thriller set in a pivotal period in American history, brilliantly crafted by Mamet – it’s an absolutely fantastic project,” Hamilton said.
“It’s an honor to be working with all of these legends,” Large added.
In addition to being a filmmaker, Mamet is also a playwright who won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony nominations for his plays Glengarry Glen Ross and Speed-the-Plow. Besides Wag the Dog, he also received an Oscar nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Verdict. His other screenwriting credits also include The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Untouchables, Hoffa and Hannibal. He also pened the scripts for the movie adaptation of Glengarry Glen Ross, which starred Pacino.
Besides Assassination, Arclight Films’ slate includes the comedy Arthur’s Whisky, which stars Diane Keaton, Patricia Hodge and Scottish singer-actor Lulu. The company’s lineup also includes the Sundance title, Fairyland, which stars Scoot McNairy and Emilia Jones and produced by Sofia Coppola.