No, this isn’t some radical Marvel recasting where Brad Pitt has replaced Don Cheadle. Rather it’s the story that Brad Pitt’s forthcoming film ‘War Machine’ has been snapped up by the mighty Netflix.
Deadline reports that, in a continuing effort to flex its Hollywood muscles, Netflix has acquired distribution rights to the Middle East-themed satirical comedy which will see Pitt play the “rock star” U.S. military Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who was the commanding general of international and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, which will be the actor’s next star vehicle.
Based on the best-selling book “The Operators: The Wild And Terrifying Inside Story Of America’s War In Afghanistan,” the film is being directed by David Michod, who made critical waves with his Aussie crime drama Animal Kingdom a few years back and most recently with the powerful post-apocalyptic tale The Rover, starring Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson.
Although Netflix has been making some serious moves with its original content – just look at House of Cards and Orange in the New Black, as well as its award-winning documentaries and the like – but War Machine will mark its biggest investment yet with a budget in about the $30 million range. That’s not much compared to some of the big Hollywood blockbusters by the big studios but major for a digital platform that’s still, for all intent and purposes, in its infancy. It also marks a major win for them getting an A-list star like Pitt for an original movie, which should help draw in even more subscribers.
Check out the press release about the project below:
Beverly Hills, June 8, 2015—The Netflix original film, War Machine, a provocative satirical comedy from David Michôd with Brad Pitt set to star in the leading role, will be exclusively available to members of the leading Internet TV service globally and in select theaters next year.
Inspired by the best-selling book The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan by the late Michael Hastings, War Machine concerns a four star, “rock star” general whose lethal reputation and impeccable track record vaults him to command the American war in Afghanistan. Determined to win the “impossible” war once and for all with a radical new approach, the general and his motley staff of commanders and press advisers race across the globe navigating delicate international alliances and troop requests, the charged battlefield of Washington politics, the voracious appetite of the media, and the day-to-day management of the war itself – all the while struggling to stay connected to the lives of men and women out in the field.
Pitt will also produce the project through his Plan B company, alongside partners Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner as well as Ian Bryce, whom he collaborated with on zombie epic World War Z. It follows company’s acquiring of the book last year, with the original plan being to tell a fully nonfiction account but things have been moulded to make what sounds like a Charlie Wilson’s War-esque fictionalized satire (Pitt’s own Burn After Reading also jumps to mind as a comparison). Pitt has said of the deal that, “we are so excited to be a part of the inspiring commitment by Netflix to produce cutting-edge content and to deliver it to a global audience.”
As stated, this is only furthering Netflix’s growing power in Hollywood. It follows on from then signing a four film deal with Adam Sandler last year and this year acquiring the exclusive rights to True Detective (and sadly former ‘It’) director Cary Fukanaga’s new film Beasts of No Nation, which has Idris Elba starring.
War Machine will be available in 2016.
Source: Deadline (via Screen Rant)
