When Kathryn Bigelow decided she would next direct her drama on POW Bowe Bergdahl, it meant she was pushing aside the long-developing Traffic-style film, Triple Frontier. The project was among the first she and screenwriter Mark Boal became attached to after The Hurt Locker, but progress on it has been slow as they've taken on other films. That hasn't stopped it from gaining interest, though, as Tom Hanks, Will Smith, and others have expressed a desire to star. And that may still happen, but it's becoming clear that Bigelow won't be involved and that another promising filmmaker may be.
According to Deadline, JC Chandor (A Most Violent Year) is in early talks to direct Triple Frontier, and both Hanks and Smith are still in contention to fill two of the five key roles. Chandor was recently attached to the Deepwater Horizon film starring Mark Wahlberg, but he left it over creative differences. Basically, he wanted to do something a bit meatier than the studio desired. Triple Frontier could fill Chandor's need to explore a serious hot-button topic, as it takes place in the border zone between Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil, considered a haven for organized crime.
Given the long wait to get this film off the ground, Paramount Pictures may want to get moving on this quickly, and Chandor has shown an ability to work quickly and efficiently. Hopefully we'll be hearing more about Triple Frontier in the coming days.
