Matt Damon boards Daniels’ hush-hush sci-fi, teaming again with The Odyssey actor
A new report says the Daniels are lining up one of Matt Damon’s The Odyssey co-stars to join their hush-hush sci‑fi feature.
Here's a new one for you: word is, Matt Damon might be teaming up with John Leguizamo once again, not long after they both popped up in The Odyssey, which was that big Christopher Nolan job from last year. The twist this time? The pair could end up in the next film from those two surrealist wizards, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert – otherwise known collectively (and a bit pretentiously, if you ask me) as The Daniels. Still, they did nab Oscars for Everything Everywhere All at Once, so we’ll let them have it.
Production on the film is expected to begin later this year.
According to Deadline, Leguizamo’s currently in talks for a major role, but there's nothing signed and sealed just yet – the studio isn’t confirming a thing. The gist seems to be that while piecing the cast together, Daniels saw something in Leguizamo’s performance in The Odyssey and decided they wanted that edge in their own off-kilter project. If the contracts are sorted, it’ll mark a quick reunion for Leguizamo and Damon, which isn’t exactly the norm in Hollywood these days.
The Daniels Assemble Their Crew
This next Daniels film is untitled for now (no points for creativity there), and they’re both writing and directing as per usual. The rest of the cast is already shaping up: Sandra Oh, Sean Kaufman, Michael Gandolfini (yes, that Gandolfini), and Charles Melton have all signed on. As for plot details – forget it. Tightest lips in town. What we do know comes from a recent appearance Damon made on The Dan Patrick Show, where he tried (and sort of failed) to sum up what he’s got himself into:
During his chat on The Dan Patrick Show, Damon called the film 'The Breakfast Club meets Inception meets an anime film meets an episode of The John Oliver Show that didn’t get aired.'
It's a quote that basically screams, “Don’t expect to understand this one right away.” All very on brand for the Daniels.
Behind the Curtain
The production’s being overseen by the Daniels themselves along with Jonathan Wang, through their company Playgrounds – it’s all under their Universal Pictures deal. Inside Universal, it’s being managed by Sara Scott (executive vice president, production development) and Jacqueline Garell (director of production development), in case you actually keep tabs on studio execs. The expectation is that filming kicks off before the year’s out, so it’s moving quickly for a project that’s still so secretive.
Meanwhile, Leguizamo’s diary is staying full; he’s just wrapped work on Universal’s next Exorcist film, this time alongside Scarlett Johansson.