It's fair to state that Scandinavian helmer made the most from his “second chance”. While Derailed critically underperformed, his second project for The Weinstein Company in 1408 was a low grade film that many critics found had admirable qualities. Not sure if Mikael Hafstrom has pacted a Kevin Smith-like first look deal with the Bros, but now the filmmaker is going into dramatic period film territory = this means bigger budget, familiar faces and complete confidence in the helmer's abilities.
Variety reports that Gong Li is a confirmed player, and potentially John Cusack will star in the Hossein Amini screenplay entitled Shanghai. Cusack would play an American who returns to a corrupt, Japanese-occupied Shanghai four months before Pearl Harbor and discovers his friend has been killed. While he unravels the mysteries of the death, he falls in love and discovers a much larger secret that his own government is hiding.
Production should get underway early next year with Phoenix Pictures' Mike Medavoy and Barry Mendel producing and Arnie Messer exec producing.
