Deadline’s reporting that bond companies are now refusing to insure movies ahead of a potential SAG strike on July 1.
One of the first victims of this seismic industry event will be Pawel Pawlikowski’s “The Island”, which was set to star Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara. It was supposed to start shooting this month in Spain, but has been scrapped.
Pawlikowski was told on the eve of shoot that the movie couldn’t be insured, leading to their to both Phoenix and Mara returning home and the project being put on hold until further notice.
Whether it ever gets shot in the near future is a whole other story. Producers tried other insurance companies but to no avail. Expect other productions to get the same fate as Pawlikowski’s film. It’s inevitable.
Described as a drama/thriller, the film is loosely based on real events. Mara and Phoenix were going to play an American couple in the 1930s who escape to their own private island and live off the land. However, a millionaire disrupts their tranquil lifestyle, as he passes by on his yacht, turning the couple into a tabloid sensation.
Pawlikowski’s last two films, “Ida” and “Cold War,” were critically-acclaimed chrome-infused sensations. There’s a lot of high expectations for this one.
Before his last two critical hits, Pawlikowski had directed the wonderful 2004 coming-of-age romance “My Summer of Love.”
While James L. Brooks teased last year that "we'll soon be seeing" Jack Nicholson, 89, act again, and that he was "reading scripts," that idea has now been shut down by his close friend Michael Douglas, 82.