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Robert De Niro Sets Projects with Paul Weitz and Lee Daniels

by Ethan Anderton
January 25, 2010
Source: Deadline Hollywood

Robert De Niro may be 66, but the veteran actor doesn't look to be inching closer to retirement anytime soon as Deadline Hollywood reports that not only is he signed on to work with Paul Weitz in the adaptation of Nick Flynn's memoir Another [Bullshit] Night in Suck City, but the actor has also hopped on board Lee Daniels' civil rights film Selma, where he'll play Alabama Governor George Wallace one of the political figures who refused to join the rest of the country in dissolving the segregation of blacks and whites. And on top of those, there's development on a potential sequel to Midnight Run, one of De Niro's early comedies.

De Niro's involvement in Selma along with the tremendous amount of awards attention Daniels' previous endeavor, Precious, has been getting means that it shouldn't be long before this project gets off the ground. Depending on who Daniels has in mind to fill the other major roles like President Lyndon B. Johnson and the historical legend of the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King, Jr., this could turn out to be an emotional look back into history. I remember thinking when Talk to Me with Don Cheadle came out that the section of the film focusing on the impact King's assassination had on Petey Greene's show was one of the most emotional representations of that tragedy. It's remarkable that there hasn't been a more formal representation of this brave leader on film, but this combined with the Spielberg produced biopic means that the civil rights leader will finally be getting his cinematic spotlight.

Meanwhile on Suck City, De Niro joins Casey Affleck in the adaptation of the story focusing on an estranged con-man as he self-destructs and eventually drives himself onto the streets and into the homeless shelter where his son works. I remember hearing about this as one of a long list of adaptations that had been gestating for some time, but once again, the power of De Niro could finally make it happen. The project certainly seems to be further along than the Midnight Run sequel, but since development is still fresh on that follow-up we could be waiting awhile for that one. Stay tuned for developments on these forthcoming De Niro projects.

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