In “hey, I’ll give these guys a shot at this” news, Deadline reports that 28 Weeks Later and Intruders director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, newbie screenwriter Joshua Zetumer (he just penned the new Robocop remake), and Even Stevens and Holes star Shia LaBeouf are set to team up on Zetumer’s Villain. Fresnadillo will direct (uh, of course) the psychological thriller that “follows two brothers who mysteriously re-connect in an unforgiving wilderness.” LaBeouf will play one of the brothers (the villain?), with the other brother role reportedly set to be cast soon.
For now, that’s all we know about the project, but that tantalizing bit of plot information is certainly rich with possibility. Obviously, there’s still a lot that could go wrong with this one, and much of the film’s success will depend on who they get to star opposite LaBeouf (perhaps his Orphans replacement Ben Foster?), an actor who seems to be screaming out for a juicy role that reminds people that he can more than just act alongside robot aliens and piss off Alec Baldwin. We haven’t seen anything out of Zetumer just yet, and Fresnadillo hasn’t lived up to his post-28 Weeks Later promise, but this could very much be the type of feature that works out well for all of them.
Also important to the film’s success? Well, a plot worthy of that one sentence slug. Any film can sound great when it’s distilled down so finely, but here’s hoping that this one works out and capitalizes on the talent involved. We’re not usually the type to get over the moon about simple marketing bits, but this is one project we’d like to hear much more about soon. Or it could all be awful, we just don’t know, but isn’t it more fun to be excited about something?
