Tracking Shot February 2011: Cogan’s Trade, The Wettest County in the World, The Ides of March

At the beginning of every month, IONCINEMA.com’s “Tracking Shot” features a handful of projects that are moments away from lensing and we feel are worth signaling out. This february we only have a fivesome of films worth mentioning that are definitely going to be major studio titles to watch out for in 2012ish. We begin with a foreign director whose success with Buried has officially put him in the company of the other Spanish directors that are considered a hot item to work with. Rodrigo Cortés moves from a one piece with Ryan Reynolds to a cast comprised of some big names (see below) and a new breakout talent in Elizabeth Olsen for Red Lights.

We have a pair of Aussie filmmakers in John Hillcoat and Andrew Dominik saddling up for their respective projects (both filming in the U.S). Nick Cave will once again pair with Hillcoat for The Wettest County in the World which is set to star these two: Tom Hardy and Jessica Chastain. Dominik’s hitman film Cogan’s Trade — which is heavy on the talent, was a project that was set up fairly quickly — Sam Rockwell and Brad Pitt who worked on the filmmaker’s last feature (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) will once again topline.

And while I don’t care much for the person in the director’s chair, I got to say the “angle” in terms of the film’s subject matter, and the combined cast make J. Edgar not only assured Oscar bait material, but it might be the type of item that the critics might like as well….which could of course be the case for this item no matter what year its released in. The Ides Of March is the behind the scene politico number with a crazy cast and based on a top Black List screenplay. Here are info on the projects worth following.

Cogan’s Trade
Director/Screenwriter: Andrew Dominik
Producers: Dede Gardner, Brad Pitt, Paula Mae Schwartz and Steve Schwartz
Cast: Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt, Mark Ruffalo, Sam Rockwell and James Gandolfini
Filming in New Orleans.

J. Edgar
Director: Clint Eastwood
Screenwriter: Dustin Lance Black
Producers: Clint Eastwood, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Robert Lorenz
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts, Josh Lucas, Ed Westwick and Judi Dench
Filming in Los Angeles.

The Ides of March
Director: George Clooney
Screenwriter: Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon
Producers: Clooney, Heslov and Brian Oliver
Cast: Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Max Minghella, Jeffrey Wright
Filming in Cincinnati, Ohio and Detroit, Michigan.

Red Lights
Director/Writer: Rodrigo Cortés
Producers: Adrián Guerra and Xavi Giménez
Cast: Elizabeth Olsen, Robert De Niro, Cillian Murphy and Sigourney Weaver
Filming in Canada and Spain.

The Wettest County in the World
Director: John Hillcoat
Screenwriter: Nick Cave
Producers: Michael Benaroya, Megan Ellison, Lucy Fisher and Douglas Wick
Cast: Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf, Jessica Chastain and Jason Clarke
Filming in Atlanta.