Danny Boyle wants Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson in his next film!

The Playlist has the details:

If there was every any doubt, after work like “Shallow Grave,” “Trainspotting” and “Sunshine,”Danny Boyle has firmly planted his feet among the A-list of directors: he’s had two Best Picture nominees in a row, with the first of them, “Slumdog Millionaire” winning a Best Director Oscar; he’s scored a big stage hit in “Frankenstein”; and he’s been handed the responsibility for the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics. While the latter will take up most of Boyle’s next year, he’s not going to be totally absent from the film world; it was announced a few months ago that he’s planning a new heist thriller, “Trance,” a remake of the 2001 British TV movie.

The plot involves an employee of an auction house who recruits a gang for a heist, only to wake with amnesia, and forget the location of the stolen painting, leading to the suspicious thieves bringing in a hypnotist. The plan is for Boyle to shoot the film before his Olympics duties, and then edit it afterwards. Unsurprisingly, the director was assembling an impressive cast, with Michael Fassbender in talks for the leader of the robbers, and James McAvoy to play the amnesiac, reuniting the stars of “X-Men First Class.” The bad news is casting has hit a bump in the road, the good is that there are some high-profile replacements waiting in the wings.

Twitch reports that Fassbender has been forced to drop out, due to the always-popular “scheduling conflicts,” (although with what is unclear: we expect an announcement on a new project or a vacation for the actor in the same slot soon), as had rather been suspected for some time—when McAvoy’s casting was announced, it was originally reported that Fassbender was off the film. The good news is that Boyle isn’t hanging about, and wants Oscar-winner Colin Firth to step in to replace the Irish-German actor in the role of Aiden. It’s not a typical part for Firth, it would seem, which is intriguing, and his slate is clear, although he is playing another thief at present, opposite Cameron Diaz in “Gambit.”

Meanwhile, there’s a female lead going as well (at a guess, we’d say it could be the hypnotist), and supposedly Scarlett Johansson heads up a short list of actresses, with Zoe Saldana and “The Princess of Montpensier” star Mélanie Thierry not far behind. With the lengthy shoot for “The Avengers” still ongoing, and Jonathan Glazer‘s “Under The Skin” set to start up in the near future (it recently received $2.8 million in U.K. funding), her schedule may be trickier, so we wouldn’t be surprised to see one of the other actors step up (and/or her dumping Glazer for Boyle and the poor “Sexy Beast” helmer having to look elsewhere).

All in all, things are looking promising, although we’re slightly concerned that the film has the potential to be as overly styled as “127 Hours” was in some moments, and it’s still unclear who’s writing it: we assume that Boyle’s current go-to guy Simon Beaufoy is involved, but that is only an assumption. Filming will start in September, and then the rushes will be put on ice until August 2012, when Boyle will start editing for a release in early 2013.

-Joey's Two Cents: I certainly like the cast...thoughts?

Michael Fassbender might star in Danny Boyle's next project...

...according to The Playlist:

Merely days after the surprise announcement of Danny Boyle‘s next directorial effort “Trance,” comes word that Irish-German thespian Michael Fassbender is now in talks to star. While details were scarce initially the picture has now been revealed as the remake of a 2003 British telemovie of the same name written and directed by Joe Ahearne.

The “edgy art-heist thriller” will follow the story of an assistant at an auction house who masterminds a heist and teams up with a gang of thieves only to suffer a blow to the head and wake up with amnesia. As the only person who knew the location of the stolen painting, the assistant is then subjected to analysis from a hypnotist as the gang begin to suspect duplicity. Fassbender is eyeing the role of the shady gang leader who partners with the assistant.

No word yet on who’ll be penning the script for Boyle (rumor has it Ahearne will be returning) but the project is apparently in the vein of the helmer’s earlier works in “Shallow Grave” and “Trainspotting”—both those films were scripted by John Hodge with the latter earning an Oscar nod for writing. Boyle and producing partner Christian Colson also look set to reunite with Fox Searchlight and Pathe for distribution.

Lensing will begin this September however Boyle won’t start post-production until mid-2012 after he fulfills his and Stephen Daldry‘s commitments to the upcoming Summer Olympics. A March 2013 release is subsequently being eyed which also seemingly suggests that the film is more genre fare than an award season contender. That, of course, can change later down the track. The in-demand Fassbender is striking while his iron is still white hot, cutting a tear through Hollywood’s top directorial talent with fierce precision. If he signs on board, by the time he works with Boyle in the fall, the actor will have already worked with Quentin Tarantino, David Cronenberg Steven Soderbergh, Ridley Scott, Matthew Vaughn and re-teamed with the man who helped put him on the map, British filmmaker Steve McQueen.

-Joey's Two Cents: Fassbender is always a good choice in my book...thoughts?

Danny Boyle sets up his next project!

Via Deadline:

Director Danny Boyle will follow his Oscar-nominated 127 Hours with Trance, a thriller that will shoot in London this September. I'm told it's an art heist gone wrong, and it's got the dark, sexy, hard-edged tone of Boyle films like Shallow Grave and Trainspotting. The film reunites Boyle with his 127 Hours and Slumdog Millionaire producing partner Christian Colson, and they are in talks with Fox Searchlight and Pathe for funding and worldwide distribution. It wasn't clear whether Boyle would make a film before directing the opening ceremonies of next summer's Olympics Games in London. Here's how he'll handle it. The film will be shot in September--Boyle and Colson have begun talking up British and U.S. talent--and after the film's shooting is completed, Boyle will put it on a shelf. He'll devote himself exclusively to the Olympics beginning next January. Next August, he'll return to the film, and cut it with the anticipation that Trance will be ready for theatrical distribution in March, 2013. The film will be in the mid teen-budget range, which has proven to be Boyle's wheelhouse. Slumdog Millionaire cost $15 million, while 127 Hours cost $18 million. Those films grossed $450 million or so between them. Boyle's repped by WME and UK-based Independent Talent.

-Joey's Two Cents: It's an interesting way of going about squeezing in a film before the Olympics, I must say...thoughts?