By Angie Han/Jan. 18, 2012 11:00 am EST
After the jump, Tommy Lee Jones is a legendary American hero and Shirley MacLaine is Ben Stiller’s mom.
Written by David Klass and Vera Blasi, Emperor centers around General Bonner Fellers (Matthew Fox), one of MacArthur’s staff and the man tasked with deciding whether Emperor Hirohito should be tried and hanged as a war criminal. Meanwhile, Fellers is also searching for Aya, a Japanese exchange student he fell in love with years before in the U.S. Emperor will enter production later this month.
Jones’ other upcoming roles this year include Men in Black III, David Frankel’s Great Hope Springs, and Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. [Variety]
After several false starts, Fox’s remake of the 1947 Danny Kaye film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (itself an adaptation of a James Thurber story) got a push in the right direction when Ben Stiller signed on to direct and star last year. Now the project could be getting its second big star, as Shirley MacLaine enters talks to play Stiller’s mother in the film. MacLaine most recently appeared in the ensemble romcom Valentine’s Day and Richard Linklater’s Bernie.
Written by Steve Conrad, the current script centers around a daydreamer who one day gets a real chance to live out the kind of adventures he’s been fantasizing about. Production will begin in April. [Deadline]
