Australian star Joel Edgerton has done some fine work in his home country lately. His performances in WAITING CITY (2009) and ANIMAL KINGDOM (2010) are arguably his best work on the big screen. His face is known internationally as Owen Lars from STAR WARS: Episodes II and III, however despite this and roles in KING ARTHUR (2004) and SMOKIN’ ACES (2006) he is still relatively unknown internationally.
Recently, he was touted as a possible Bourne replacement in the Damon-less franchise reboot. Jeremy Renner of THE HURT LOCKER (2008) was eventually announced as The Neo-Bourne. Then Edgerton was supposedly front-runner for the lead opposite Kristen Stewart in SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN. He is reported to have turned this down.
The Oscar-winning THE HURT LOCKER figures in the story yet again. Its director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal have teamed up once more to make KILL BIN LADEN. Last week, Edgerton was named as the picture’s lead.
The story was originally about a failed attempt to find and kill the terrorist and 9/11 architect Osama Bin Laden. This script had been developed over the last year, however with the recent death of Bin Laden; it is now being re-written and will cover the story of the Navy SEAL unit responsible for the successful mission.
There are several telemovies reportedly being rushed to the small screen, however Bigelow’s project seems likely to be the first theatrically-released feature. The director hopes shooting will begin in September.
