George Clooney Wants Chris Pine For ‘Farragut North’ Film

Star Trek’s new Captain Kirk may be adding another high-profile project to his growing Resume. According to a new report, George Clooney wants to direct Chris Pine, reprising his stage role in the film adaptation of the play Farragut North.

 

Pine may reprise Farragut North role for Clooney

Last summer Chris Pine received high marks for his work in the political play "Farragut North" at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. Actor/director George Clooney has also been developing a big-screen feature adaptation of Farragut North and a new report states that plans to start shooting in February 2011. According to Vulture, Clooney has already cast Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti and plans to offer Chris Pine the role he played on stage – of a young presidential campaign press secretary who will do anything to get his candidate nominated. Clooney is also slated to play a small part in the film.

phoenix ship
Chris Pine in last year’s "Farragut North"

The film has a distribution deal with Sony and is currently looking for production financing, but Vulture notes that with the names already associated with the project money should not be a problem. It isn’t clear if Pine, who recently wrapped up his stint on the LA stage, would be able to fit this project into his schedule. The new Captain Kirk will start shooting the Star Trek sequel movie next May or June and probably will need some prep time and training for that role. The actor is also attached to the Jack Ryan movie Moscow and the action comedy This Means War

Here is some video of Pine from the summer of 2009 talking about the  Farragut North play (with clips)

 

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Looks like Chris Pine will be the biggest star out of any of the new cast! Good for him! He deserves it!

Hopefully having anything to do with Clooney won’t make Republican Trek fans ban the next star trek film.

I mean Pine could use the role to not get typecast as Kirk, yet i don’t think there is a man more hated in America than Clooney, perhaps than Obama.

Come on now, 98% of the Trek fan base is already lining up behind Obama in 2012….don’t think anyone needs to worry about a handful of Conservatives undercutting the box office of the next film…

#2. People who consider religious or political persuasions of entertainers as factors in choosing their entertainment are stupid anyway.

Pine is obviously more versatile than the Kirk roll alone shows. No margarine commercials in his future, that’s for sure.

Wonder if Pine will become too big for his three movie contract before the 3rd Trek flick rolls around.

Seconded to #4

@2: The saddest part of your comment is that you think that lowly of people who disagree with you. For shame.

I work down the street from Farragut North, actually. Love it when obscure DC area references are the thing. Probably be another one of those movies where you really like it because it’s a great drama but forget about it in a couple of years.

skyjedi warning for political trolling.

Please do not let this thread get hijacked into stupid political debate.

Chris Pine once played a neo-Nazi…I dont remember anyone holding that against him, in fact the buzz from that movie helped him get Star Trek. He is an actor FFS

I probably wouldn’t see this movie anyway, regardless of its’ ideological leanaings. since political movies are boring.

5

That’s because there’s nobody butter!

4

Damn straight!

#5 “Kirk roll…….No margarine commercials”

If it was a Kirk ROLE, I would agree. But, with you describing it as a Kirk ROLL, maybe margarine is just what’s needed! :>)

I think if Chris can do the movie he should. He is on the fast track to becoming an A List Actor and that bodes well for his role of Capt Kirk on Star Trek and at the Box Office. A far as politicks. Let’s just all stay away from that. We all have our views and that’s great. But when ever someone expresses there politicle views all it does is get’s everyone Arguing and then Anthony hast to come on and star babysitting us.

12

Didn’t they do that with Shatner during the shirtless action sequences of TOS?

DIRECTOR: We need to make Kirk look really sweaty. Ideas, anyone?

MAKE-UP ARTIST: Well, we can butter him up for the action scenes by rubbing margarine all over him!

Ryan, you’re probably too young to remember, but the Shat used to do a series of margarine commercials.

15

When was that? ‘Cause, yeah, as you said, I’m probably too young to remember. I’m 29. Was it during the eighties, or the seventies, when he had nothing BUTTER going on?

I can see him outgrowing Kirk real fast.

17

Well, I believe Chris Pine is taller than William Shatner, so he has already “outgrown” Kirk. The original, at least. :-)

I was not airing my political views i am an independent. I was stating the known views of the Right, and saying i hope they don’t hold a role against Pine.

I was recalling back to how certain people treated that Heath Ledger who played the joker in the dark knight because he was in brokeback mountain.

16

If memory serves, it was in the 1970’s. Back when his skin was “like buttah!”

Also has anyone seen The American, I have only seen the trailer. Looks like a decent film. Not sure i buy Clooney as a James Bond type though anymore than i bought him as Batman.

Touche, Ryan.

This goes back to an earlier thread, though. With all this success and opportunity, I find it easily plausible that Pine could and would walk away from Trek. Other than the paycheck, he doesn’t seem like a lifelong fan or anything….

Which begs the question: How many “Captain Kirks” are we going to have to get used to?

I won’t see any Jack Ryan movie without Ford in the role, and that is flat out the facts.

As for Pine as Kirk i can just ignore it because it is Universe B. One i don’t care for. Universe A for which they no longer make tv shows or movies is the real Star trek fictional universe in my own opinion. My opinion goes up against JJ Abrams and Orci and Kurtzman, but so be it. I aint no fanboy of the supreme court.

24 a) nobody cares and b) please unplug your keyboard when the mood strikes your fancy.

Congratulations to Chris Pine! The entire cast have great careers in and out of Trek. I think the Trek ’09 group did a superb job writing, directing and most often overlooked, casting the movie!

@#1
Sorry but I think Zoe Saldana has already beat everyone by a long shot.

24 – it amazes me there’s Trek fans that think like you do.

I don’t think Chris Pine would turn against Star trek right away. The only reason he is getting some of these roles is because of the buzz playing Captain Kirk got him. Unless he really wants ‘serious’ or prestige roles from now on, he’d better honor his commitments to Star Trek for the next two films at least. If he jumped ship before his contract was up for the third movie, then I’d think the studio might re-evaluate its commitment to him since they’re also offering him the Jack Ryan role. While he certainly wouldn’t become a pariah in town, other studios and casting directors probably would hold it against him that he left Paramount and the Star Trek franchise high and dry because he became “too big for it”. The only thing that might happen if he become a big time movie star is he might demand more money. If not before the third movie’s made, then certainly after it. The big question then would be whether Paramount would be willing to pay. It might be this time that a decision was made that a new cast for a television show would be cheaper to make than another movie.

#23. So you’ve never seen The Hunt for Red October?

@2

wow.

The Hunt for Red October was one of the best Movies of the franchise. Alec Baldwin in one of his best roles and of course Sean Connery at his best. Though I loved Harrison Ford in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. I think Chris Pine will do a great job.

I think CP would love to play that role in the film……hope it will happen…just don’t know if his schedule will allow…. …yeah the beginning of next year it’s assumed that it will filming Moscow and then Star Trek!.. …..This Means War they will start filming soon (13th september ) I guess.

CP is a GOOD young actor so …..I want see him in Star Trek Sequel, Moscow(Jack Ryan), TMW and more….and more!!!!

He’s a good actor. Good luck to him. I’m confident, however, that we’ll get our Trek trilogy with the full cast. After that, who knows? As a fan, I would obviously like more than three new films. But even if I weren’t a fan, I’d still advise him to take the gig. For, the Trek films are a very small commitment (i.e., they’re years apart), they have been and promise to be commercially and critically successful, they’re a different genre (blockbuster), they will make him very rich and famous and quickly, and they link him to Paramount almost a la the studio system from the Golden Age of Hollywood. It’s an excellent deal for him.

Bring on Star Trek 12: the search for a title.

Oh, didn’t you hear? They settled on a title:

Star Trek: The Search For More Money

Harry:

Thanks for catching my misspelling.

They even reference the Shat’s margarine ads in the SNL “Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise.”

As for Pine becoming ‘too big’ for Trek, he IS playing Kirk. When does ‘too big’ for Star Trek mean ‘just right’ for a Jack Ryan re-boot?

Of all the actors of his generation, who is now “too big?” Shia LeBoeuf? He is still in “Transformers.” Christian Bale starred in two ‘Batman” films and T4, and he has yet to be ‘too big’ for anything.

As Harry mentioned, if the films are generating massive profits, they’ll get him back. The tendency to poo-poo Star Trek as a tier-2 genre property is obviously still around amongst some fans.

26… Ms. Saldana was nearly unrecognizable in “Avatar” and her acting wasn’t very good (not her fault… acting in 100% CGI sets is almost always terrible) and the movies she’s had since (“Losers”, “Death at a Funeral”) were modest performers at best. So I wouldn’t really call her a breakout star yet.

@38 Agreed.

I believe CP likes to play Kirk!!!

@32:

“The Hunt for Red October was one of the best Movies of the franchise. ”

This is coming from one of the world’s foremost Harrison Ford fans, but it was the only one of that franchise worth seeing. The rest were crap IMHO. I walked out of the Ben Affleck one and then walked back in at the end because the other movie I went into (a reshowing of Attack of the Clones) ended.

Everyone else, cut out the political stuff. Anthony’s going to come in and spank all of us and we don’t want that, do we? All politicians — every last one of them without exception — is interested only in their own personal gain.

Chris Pine is a great actor, *everyone* loved Heath Ledger as the Joker and everyone who disagrees with me politically is wrong. There. Let’s talk about how overrated Avatar was now.

It appears some of you thought my comments about this thread not being hijacked into stupid political thing was a suggestion…it wasn’t. Posts removed as will future political posts.

Thank you,

The Management

1

Excuse me…Let’s not forget about Zoe Saldana…

There was an article in, I think, the Daily Telegraph, recently, that points to the end of the “$20m star-vehicle” days, and the ascendancy of films based on themes (i.e. Superheroes) over actors.

The article pointed to Will Smith and Meryl Streep being perhaps two of the remaining reliable pulls for action and films aimed at older viewers, respectively ( I would add Harrison Ford). Other actors either make their money playing the same characters in each film, or in ensembles. “Avatar” was cited as sending a chill through Hollywood as it almost removes actors from the picture altogether.

Pine and the others in Trek will continue to be sought out for participation in multi-picture deals which are tentpole/franchise-based.

Saldana was already on her way to stardom when she signed on to do the movie. In a way, I think this is very good for all parties involved. It means she is a fan. And as was the case with Whoopi Goldberg (TNG), Zoe is associated with the franchise because she wants to be. It isn’t because she desperately needs the work and would mire in obscurity without Star Trek.

I sense a bit of Hollywood-style behind-the-scenes stuff going on with Zoe.

I read, for example, that Sam Worthington was recommended to director McG for ‘Terminator: Salvation’ by Cameron himself, the franchise’s creator. Maybe Zoe was similarly ‘recommended’ to JJ Abrams for ST09 to get their faces ‘out there’ prior to ‘Avatar’s’ release. And JJ responds by getting Yelchin into T4 as well. Maybe. Maybe not.

Cameron has certainly been one to publicly praise ST09 on many occasions, and ST2012 benefits by having a much more internationally recognizable ensemble cast

#43

Could you provide a link to that article? I’d like to read it.

I agree with the points you made, AJ. I would also add that, despite actors no longer being the main draw in genre fiction, certain directors still seem to be able to bring in “tentpole” sized audiences with their names alone—James Cameron, JJ Abrams, Christopher Nolan, Peter Jackson, and even Jon Favreau is becoming better known for being behind the camera than in front of it. So, I guess now more than ever what everyone really wants to do is… direct. ;)

Vultan, some would consider that a direct statement!

46

Everyone wants to direct movies and shows; no one seems to want to direct traffic anymore. Except for Anthony when he directs internet traffic away from political discussion.

I guess the advantage of directing over acting is that you get to tell everyone else what to do instead of them ordering you around!

Those who can, do, those who can’t, direct!

And those who can’t do either, sit back and watch.