Levinson Hops on the ‘Train’

Barry Levinson could use a good Hollywood blockbuster.  Not that he hasn’t had his 15 minutes of fame. Or, 15…years…or so.  The helmer seemed to fall off the major radar after 1998’s dramedy hit Wag the Dog.  But it was hit after hit before that, starting with his first feature Diner in 1982 and peaking in 1988 with the pic that landed him an Oscar, Rain Man.  And now, according to THR, Levinson will be taking on the “L.A. Confidential”-esque Train, a noir based off of the Pete Dexter novel.  Dexter wrote the screenplay for another noir pic, Mulholland Drive.

Train is a 1950s film, featuring a white sergeant in the San Diego Police Department and a young black golf caddy.  In a mix of mystery, politics and racism, the story erupts when the caddy, Lionel “Train” Walk, happens upon some sought after info regarding a murder.

Levinson has a few more features in development, including A Walk in the Woods, starring Robert Redford, who plays a man who returns to the US after two years abroad and decides to reconnect with his homeland by trekking across the Appalachian Trail.  The feature is based off of the memoir by Bill Bryson and set for release some time next year.  The helmer is also set to direct Tom Hanks and Julianne Moore in another “travel pic,” Boone’s Lick. The film tells of a woman who takes her family on a journey by riverboat to find her elusive husband and is set for release some time in 2010.