It’s been stuck in development hell for twenty years, but it looks like the action thriller Gemini Man may finally be about to make its way to the big screen, with THR reporting that Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Life of Pi) is in talks to direct for Skydance Productions.
Gemini Man follows an aging assassin who tried to get out of the business but finds himself in the ultimate battle: fighting his own clone who is 25 years younger than him and at the peak of his abilities.
The project was first set up at Disney in 1997, with Tony Scott signing on to direct from a pitch by Darren Lemke. The idea was to have the same actor portray both the assassin and his younger clone using digital effects – something that was deemed impossible at the time due to technological limitations. It then passed through the hands of a host of writers, including Brian Helgeland, Andrew Niccol and David Benioff, while Curtis Hanson was also attached to direct at one point. The project was subsequently picked up by Skydance in October 2016.
As we’ve seen with the likes of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Tron: Legacy, Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the technology to digitally de-age an actor has been improving at a rapid rate, so much so that Skydance believes it is now possible to pull off the necessary visual effects, and that Ang Lee is the man to oversee it.
Originally published April 23, 2017. Updated April 15, 2018.
