Since its founding in 2006, Smokehouse Pictures has produced a solid string of high quality movies, including last year’s Best Picture winner Argo. Because of this, I’m always excited to see what founders George Clooney and Grant Heslov have planned. One project that they’ve had in the works for quite some time is Our Brand Is Crisis, and now it looks like that film could be moving forward as Sandra Bullock is in talks to sign on.
An individual familiar with the project says that the Gravity star is in early discussions for the film. Her potential involvement isn’t necessarily new, as the film has been discussed a fair bit recently and Heslov was asked about Bullock taking on a role as recently as last week. But still, if she actually does end up signing on, it could add another very interesting piece to what should be an exciting film.
Written by Peter Straughan (The Men Who Stares At Goats), Our Brand Is Crisis is based on Rachel Boyneton’s 2005 documentary of the same name. That documentary focused on political campaign marketing tactics used by Greenberg Carville Shrum in the 2002 Bolivian presidential election. It sounds like the sort of story we’ve come to expect from Smokehouse, and I’m extremely happy that Straughan is the one who wrote it.
In terms of Bullock’s involvement, it looks like she would play retired American political consultant “Calamity” Jane Bodine. While I haven’t always been the biggest fan of the actress, she blew me away with her performance in Gravity and at this point I’m definitely interested to see what she could do in this, or any, role.
As always with an unnamed source, there’s reason to be wary of the report, but considering Clooney and Bullock just made a very successful movie together, it makes sense that he would go to her for his next project. Still, both Bullock’s publicist and representatives for Clooney and Warner Bros. have yet to comment on the rumor, so for now treat it as just that: a rumor.
What do you think of Sandra Bullock starring in Our Brand Is Crisis? Fans of the documentary, are you interested in Smokehouse’s take on the story? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.