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Christoph Waltz Joins Mike Newell's 'Reykjavik' as Mikhail Gorbachev

by Ben Pearson
October 15, 2012
Source: THR

The next time we see Michael Douglas in a high profile role, he'll be portraying the flamboyant entertainer Liberace in Steven Soderbergh's HBO biopic Behind the Candelabra. But just because Soderbergh is stepping back from the spotlight to "retire" (I'll believe it when I see it) doesn't mean that Douglas is out of the game, too. He's already signed on to step back into the fictional Oval Office to play former President Ronald Reagan in a political indie called Reykjavik, and now THR reports that the film has cast Christoph Waltz as Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev with Harry Potter helmer Mike Newell at the helm.

The story surrounds the famous 1986 meeting between the two political figures that took place in neutral territory (Reykjavik, Iceland) and ended the Cold War. Sounds like a good opportunity to make a few points that have modern day parallels, and with such larger-than-life actors playing these widely recognized characters, it'll be interesting to see if they stick to straight imitations or try to mine the essence of the two world leaders. Kevin Hood (Becoming Jane) wrote the screenplay, and though Sir Ridley Scott was once set up to direct, he's slid back into a producer role on this one. Production starts in March of 2013, and if the filmmakers are smart, we'll see some official photos surface sometime soon after.

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