Earlier this year, we reported that Zac Efron was cast in Matt Drake’s screenplay originally titled The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman. The script was on 2007’s blacklist and Efron has been circling the role of the male lead for quite some time. The film would have Efron star in the lead role as a kid who goes on an existential journey to Eastern Europe and falls in love with a young woman who has ties with the criminal underworld. The film had no director attached until now.
Frederik Bond, a Swedish multi-award winning director of commercials and music videos has been chosen to direct this romantic action thriller. Bond who has directed ads for clients such as Nike, Levis, Adidas, Guinness and Heiniken, was nominated 2004, 2008 and 2009 by Directors Guild of America as the year’s most outstanding director in commercials and he was listed by the industry’s leading magazine Creativity as one of the most influential people in 2008 and 2009. The film is also looking for a new title, so stay tuned. (THR)