Hollywood latest lassoed import might be Spanish director Nacho Vigalondo, Variety reports that the director behind Timecrimes (the fantasy thriller that was a popular title on the fantasy film fest circuit and was released by Magnet late last year), will take on the action comedy format for Mandate Pictures and Steve Zaillian via their Film Rites co-venture. Usually foreign filmmakers take on “other people’s projects”, but this isn’t the case for Vigalondo, he is bringing his own idea for a film to the table and will have Pat Healy (the co-lead in Great World of Sound) write the script. Did these two meet in Sundance?
Gangland revolves around a team of video-game developers who get in over their heads after they promise to deliver the most realistic game of all time, titled “Gangland,” and soon find themselves having to survive by their own wits in a real-life criminal underworld. This already sounds a lot better than the overrated film, Nic Balthazar’s Ben X (the tie-in mention here is how vid games blur the lines of reality).
Zaillian will produce and Nathan Kahane will executive produce.