Will Smith’s Gemini Man has hired John Wick 2 stunt coordinator J.J. Perry. Ang Lee will direct the long-gestating sci-fi action movie from Paramount Pictures. Clive Owen reportedly will join Smith in the cast together with Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Gemini Man stars Smith as an aging hitman marked for death who must square off against his own 25-years-younger clone. Literally, Smith’s character must battle his own legacy – something Smith the actor has found himself doing a lot in recent years.
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- Source: Omega Underground
Gemini Man has undergone a long and tortured development process over the years. The project was first set up at Disney as a pitch in 1997 with the late Tony Scott attached to direct. The late Curtis Hanson at one point was also attached as director. Multiple writers have taken stabs at a script over the years, including Jonathan Hensleigh, Andrew Niccol and Darren Lemke. Ang Lee finally took on directing chores in 2017. Smith also jumped aboard last year and now the project seems to have real momentum.
Gemini Man continues putting together a crew, adding John Wick 2 stunt coordinator J.J. Perry according to Omega Underground. The production previously hired Guy Hendrix Dyas (Inception) as production designer. The film should begin shooting next month in Savannah, Budapest and Cartagena. The shoot reportedly will go on until July barring delays.
A fifth-degree black belt in martial arts, J.J. Perry’s resume as a stunt coordinator includes work on The Fate of the Furious, The Dark Tower and Spy. Perry previously worked with Ang Lee on Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. With Perry doing the stunts, expect Gemini Man to be heavy on intricately choreographed fighting scenes. As you would expect, Ang Lee continues to gather a top-drawer crew around himself as he pulls this project together.
For Ang Lee, Gemini Man represents yet another sharp turn in his ever-fascinating filmography. Lee first came to prominence directing Oscar-bait movies like Sense and Sensibility and The Ice Storm. The director then suddenly become an action-movie master with his surprise smash hit Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Lee took a stab at a superhero movie on 2003’s Hulk, with mixed results. The director then returned to prestige films, winning an Oscar for his visual marvel The Life of Pi. Now with Gemini Man, Lee veers into the world of high-concept sci-fi action. One thing’s for sure: Ang Lee is the best director Will Smith has hooked up with in a long time. We’ll see if the combination results in Smith scoring the big comeback theatrical hit that has eluded him for so long.
Source: Omega Underground
