Will Ben Affleck star in the long-gestating sci-fi project, “Replay”? Part of that depends on a re-write that director Greg Berlanti is now doing on the project, Affleck has told TheWrap.
"There is a script that I'm interested in that's being written, but I don't have any commitment to it,” Affleck told TheWrap. “I think originally it was a Julia Roberts property that she developed in the 1990s or something. Greg Berlanti's doing a rewrite, he's gonna direct it, and I'd love to read it, but I don't know what I'm doing next.”
Berlanti was previously announced as the director of the film for Warner Bros. The film has been linked to a number of different directors, including Affleck and Robert Zemeckis in the past.
Prior to Berlanti, Jason Smilovic wrote an earlier version of the screenplay, based on the book of the same name by Ken Grimwood.
The book revolves around a 43-year-old radio journalist who wakes up in 1963, as his 18-year-old self, and has an opportunity to re-live his life several times and to remedy past mistakes. He is known as a re-player.
In the film version, the lead is supposed to be an advertising executive who uses his knowledge of the future to make a fortune and go after the woman of his dreams, instead of the woman he married.
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Robert’s long-term collaborator, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, is producing the film.
Earlier Wednesday, it was announced that Roberts and Goldsmith-Thomas would both serve as executive producers on the ABC drama, “The Taming of the Shrew."
The two women first worked together when Goldsmith-Thomas was Roberts agent at ICM in the 1990s. Goldsmith-Thomas joined 3Arts late last year, as a manager-producer.
So which of the female roles would Roberts be a good fit for in “Replay”?
There is always the role of a journalist and fellow re-player, who is making a film about a man who keeps reliving his lives when she meets Jeff, the lead.
A spokesperson for Warner Bros. confirmed to TheWrap that Berlanti is re-writing the script.
Additional reporting by Steve Pond