Jessica Chastain and Simon Kinberg to Pitch All-Female Spy Franchise at Cannes
Jessica Chastain has not been quiet during the wake of the popular and much needed #MeToo movement which is at the forefront of all Hollywood conversations. Her work in the collective fight for women in the entertainment industry shows no plans of stopping soon as she is teaming up with long-time X-Men writer and producer Simon Kinberg to create an all-female spy film akin to that of The Bourne Franchise. The film is called 355 and the current script was written by Theresa Rebeck (Catwoman, Smash), Deadline reports.
While filming X-Men: Dark Phoenix, which was Kinberg’s directorial debut, Chastain presented the idea to Kinberg who was immediately on board. The part that sold Simon on the idea was the actresses that Jessica had in mind to fill out the ensemble of female spies. The actresses are none other than Lupita Nyong’o, Penelope Cruz, Fan Bingbing and Marion Cotillard. Here’s what Chastain had to say about the film:
“I had so much fun working on The Help that I always wanted to do another female ensemble film. I love the Bourne movies, the Mission Impossible films, and wondered why, except for Charlie’s Angels, there hadn’t been a true female ensemble action-thriller spy film. That got my wheels going, along with the idea of casting actresses from all over the world to truly make it an international project. I realized the incredible creative freedom we would have with that. I brought the idea to Simon, told him about the actresses I was thinking of, and he was so sweet. He said ‘I want to do it with you’. Then I called the women, told them what I was envisioning and that I wanted it to be a collaborative process and how we all would create this together.”
The Cannes Film Festival will begin next week on May 8th. Chastain, Kinberg and all the other actresses who are on board for the project will be in attendance to pitch this ambitious and exciting idea to potential international buyers for worldwide distribution. Chastain went on to explain the power in that;
“The one thing that felt important is that we all show up at Cannes, because that would be the beginning of our journey together. Every single actress I called said ‘Yes’ on the phone call. They committed to Cannes and to everything. So far it has been a very wonderufully easy process.”
The title 355 was inspired by a real life female spy during the American Revolution. Her codename was Agent 355 and she was one of the first female spies in the United States and her identity is still unknown. The film involves top agents from organizations around the world uniting to stop a global organization from acquiring a weapon that could plunge an already unstable world into total chaos. They have to learn to work together by overcoming cultural and political differences in order to save the world. Does this sound like a franchise you can get behind? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
SOURCE: Deadline
