Jackie Chan set to fire off failed ‘Five Against a Bullet’
IT looks like ‘Five Against a Bullet’, a Lorenzo di Bonaventura-produced action film which has been in development since 2011 but failed to come together, may finally move forward with Jackie Chan in the starring role.
Directed by Joe Carnahan, the project has gained new signs of life as Chan has signed on to star in the film.
Carnahan (‘ The Grey’) became attached to the project in mid2014. Carnahan is still set to direct and reportedly handling rewrites on a version of the script from writer Alex Litvak (‘ Predators’). Still studioless after losing Columbia Pictures, Chan is sure to make the project much more enticing to potential buyers.
Set in a small Mexican town under siege by the forces of a powerful drug cartel, the film’s story centres on a team of five elite bodyguards assigned to protect the son of the town’s murdered mayor. Chan is presumed to have signed on to portray one of the five bodyguards - a role that may carry over into future sequels, as the film’s producers are believed to be positioning it as a potential franchise, following the bodyguards to further assignments.
Meanwhile, Chan will next be seen as a globetrotting achaeology professor in the big-budget Chinese/ India coproduction Kung Fu Yoga; an immigrant restaurant owner in London coping with the aftermath of a terrorist attack in ‘ The Foreigner; lending his voice to the character of Master Wu in ‘ The Lego Ninjago Movie’; and in a leading role in the action comedy ‘ Railroad Tigers. He’s also slatted to appear in the Chinese sciencefiction film ‘Bleeding Steel’ for director Leo Zhang.
At the age of 62, Chan doesn’t look to be winding down any time soon.