Tracking Shot February 2013: O. Russell, Egoyan, Amy Berg, Gareth Evans & Mark Jackson

“Tracking Shot” is a monthly featurette here on IONCINEMA.com that looks at a dozen or so projects that are moments away from lensing. This February we’ve got a slew of projects that we feel are worth signaling out: we start with a sequel (and pictured above) we find The Raid 2 (also known as Berandal) which has set up shop with the same producing team, star player and writer/director Gareth Huw Evans. Sony Pictures Classics backed the film prior to production. This picks up two hours after the first installment ends.

We have the highly touted Black List screenplay that could very well place itself in the fall festival releases in David O. Russell’s adaptation of American Bullshit – a film we imagine will be much talked about because of its cast (Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Louis C.K.) and the plotline (an FBI sting operation in the 1970s called Abscam leads to the conviction of United States Congressmen). Atom Egoyan isn’t wasting much time between projects, after Devil’s Knot, the Canadian director reteams with Scott Speedman for a kidnapping thriller titled, Queen of the Night.

We’ve got a trio of book to film adaptations worth tracking: Docu-turned fiction helmer Amy Berg will translate the Laura Lippman novel Every Secret Thing, indie filmmaker Daniel Schechter works with a big cast on the currently untitled adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s The Switch and John Crowley adapts from a Patricia Highsmith novel, Carol.

Lastly, our most anticipated item currently filming is Mark Jackson’s sophomore pic – he broke out with the award-winning Without in 2011, and now works Catherine Keener in a Sicilian backdrop – the actress stars as a prize-winning war photographer who is suffering from her own Stockholm Syndrome.

American Bullshit
Director: David O. Russell
Writer: Eric Singer
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Louis C.K.
Crew: Production Designer: Judy Becker (Shame)
Producers: Annapurna Pictures’ Megan Ellison, Atlas Ent.’s Charles Roven and Richard Suckle
Filming in Boston.

Carol
Director: John Crowley
Writer: Phyllis Nagy
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Mia Wasikowska
Producer: Number 9 Films’ Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley, Film4’s Tessa Ross
Filming in New York and London.

Every Secret Thing
Director: Amy Berg
Writer: Nicole Holofcener
Cast: Elizabeth Banks, Diane Lane
Crew: Production Designer: Molly Hughes (upcoming Two Night Stand)
Producer: Likely Story’s Anthony Bregman and actress Frances McDormand

Queen of the Night
Director: Atom Egoyan
Writer: Egoyan and David Fraser
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Rosario Dawson, Scott Speedman, Mireille Enos, Kevin Durand
Producer: Egoyan, Stephen Traynor, The Film Farm’s Simone Urdl and Jennifer Weiss
Filming in Toronto, Canada

The Raid 2
Director/Writer: Gareth Huw Evans
Cast: Iko Uwais, Tio Pakusadewo, Putra Arifin Scheunamann, Julie Estelle, Alex Abbad and Roy Marten
Crew: Cinematographers Matthew Flannery & Dimas Imam Subhono (The Raid: Redemption)
Producers: PT Merantau Films’ Ario Sagantoro and XYZ Films’ Nate Bolotin, Nick Spicer, Aram Tertzakian and Todd Brown
Filming in Jakarta, Indonesia

Untitled Elmore Leonard Project
Director/Writer: Daniel Schechter
Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Isla Fisher, John Hawkes, Tim Robbins, Will Forte
Crew: Cinematographer: Eric Alan Edwards (Lovelace), Production Designer: Inbal Weinberg (The Place Beyond the Pines)
Producers: Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jordan Kessler, Michael Siegel, Gotham Groups’ Elizabeth Destro and Lee Stollman

Untitled Sicily Mark Jackson project
Director/Writer: Mark Jackson
Cast: Catherine Keener
Crew: Cinematographer: Reed Morano (The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete)
Producers: Kristen Gore and Alex G. Scott // EP: Scott Macaulay
Filming in Sicily, Italy