Director Ben Affleck Heads for ‘Arizona’
Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on December 9, 2008
Though there are a lot of them out there, I can’t say I was ever one of the major critics of Ben Affleck’s acting ability. He’s not a bad actor, he’s just made some poor choices along the way — like Gigli. Last year though, Affleck seemed to finally find his real calling when he stepped behind the camera to direct brother Casey in Gone Baby Gone, one of the best films of 2007. And according to Variety, it would appear that Miramax wants Ben back behind the camera for Arizona, a fact-based crime drama about a murdered journalist.
The film is based on a true story that began with the death of Don Bolles, an investigative reporter for the Arizona Republic. In 1976, Bolles was killed in a car bomb explosion as he was investigating the infiltration of organized crime into state government.
Bolles was a co-founder of a group called the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), whose members rallied to his cause shortly after his death, completing the work that Bolles had begun.
The project would reunited Affleck with Gone Baby Gone producer Sean Bailey, who is currently producing Disney’s Tron sequel. Miramax has hired The Longest Yard scribe Sheldon Turner to pen the script, who most recently wrote the first draft of Jason Reitman’s upcoming film Up in the Air.
Personally, I’m interested to see what Affleck comes up with in his sophomore effort. Arizona sounds interesting enough and if Gone Baby Gone is any indication, then we should be in for a solid drama. Then again who knows, 2001 Ben Affleck could show up and try to also star in the film, ruining everything.
[via Variety]
Read more articles by Neil Miller
