Man, the insurers are going to have a field day with this one. Shia LaBeouf and Mel Gibson have had enough controversies that there's always some question whether it's worth it to work with them. They both stay busy, however, and it can be argued have thrived in their comebacks. Now they'll have a chance to put producers on edge at the same time in an upcoming dark comedy titled Rothchild.
LaBeouf and Gibson are attached to star in the dark comedy, to be directed by Jon S. Baird. Baird most recently directed the biopic Stan & Ollie, as well as the Irvine Welsh adaptation Filth. The story sets LaBeouf as a man who schemes claim the vast fortune his family has screwed him out of. You may recall Logan Lerman being up for LaBeouf's role in this film a few years ago. Here's the synopsis:
Becket Rothchild (LaBeouf) was never given a fair lot in life; the bastard child of a mother, who in eloping with a jazz musician, was cast out from the Rothchild family and its vast fortune. All grown up and armed with charisma, intelligence and a flair for opportunity, it does not take long for Becket to fully grasp the immense gap between his situation and the richest 1% which should be his birth right. He has a plan…
There are precisely 9 Rothchild family members who stand between him and his fortune including Whitelaw (Gibson), his sinister grandfather. How hard could it be for them each to meet with an “accident”? With the unique advantage of being unknown to any of them, Becket penetrates the weird and twisted lives of his super-rich kin amongst frat boys, hipster artists and reality TV stars. The only thing that threatens to get in the way is love, both old and new.
This sounds pretty great, and I like the possibly volatile combination of Gibson and LaBeouf. The latter had one of the most impressive films at Sundance with his semi-autobiographical drama Honey Boy. Gibson's latest is troubled biopic The Professor and the Madman, which he has pretty much disavowed.
