A couple of projects with high-profile leads have come together quickly as a writers strike looms in Hollywood, so let's take a look at what was squeezed in at the buzzer.
Deadline has information on both, and the first project will star Natalie Portman. It's called Bronco Belle, to be directed by Anna Rose Holmer, whose film The Fits was a smash at Sundance last year. The film is basically a rodeo version of Rocky, with Portman as a bull rider trying to succeed in a male-dominated field. No truth to the rumor Portman's character will transform into a bull during her final ride, Black Swan-style.
Meanwhile, Johnny Depp is attached to King of the Jungle, the John McAfee thriller from Glenn Ficarra and John Requa that has been in the works for years. McAfee is the computer virus magnate who was kind of loopy, was accused of murder, went on the run, became a drug dealer in Brazil, then took a Wired magazine reporter on a wild tour of his Belize compound.
