Not one to advertise news stories in which a star is “circling” a project (I say that as I spoke about JGL possibly leading Guardians of the Galaxy before he was dropped from the running,) I find it worth mentioning today that yet another one of those pieces has fallen in our laps. Brad Pitt is said to be leaning towards doing Pontius Pilate for Warner Bros., making this the first time we have heard something on the blockbuster since its announcement last August. Doing this project would see the Moneyball star play the title character of a story that pits the prefect of Judea against Jesus Christ. We all know how that ends, but the film is said to be more than that as it really tells the story of Pontius’ rise.
Should Brad Pitt join the project, this would be his earliest period offering since Troy–a movie billed at the time as one of the biggest historical epics ever. This new project does have elements of war and how much of that is a part of the story being told remains to be seen, but it is safe to say that it could be miles away from the tone that director Wolfgang Petersen took with Troy. Odds are the Warner Bros. wants the same result though as the studio banked nearly half a billion on an investment of $175 million back in 2004.
The script comes from Woman on Top scribe Vera Blasi and producing will be seasoned veteran Mark Johnson whose credits include Donnie Brasco and The Notebook.