Ang Lee May Direct ‘Gemini Man’

Gemini Man is that legendary project in Hollywood that just has never been made. Once set up at Disney, due to technological restrictions, the project has never made it to the big screen; but, Skydance Productions is trying to change that, and award-winning director Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Life of Pi) may be the creative mind to bring it to life.

The concept for the action/thriller is to follow an aging government assassin named Alexander Kane, who is concerned about his aging body. He is then pitted against a man named Rye, who is half his age. But ironically enough, Rye turns out to be a clone of Alex, putting older Alexander Kane against a younger Alexander Kane.

In October last year, Skydance picked up the project, with Jerry Bruckheimer to produce, and the project has since been in development. Not to be confused with the 1970s television show, Gemini Man, it began as a pitch by Darren Lemke to Disney execs in 1997. At one point Curtis Hanson was signed on to direct. At other points, Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, Mel Gibson, and Jon Voight were all rumored to be circling the project for the lead role.

The hurtle that stood in the way of getting this film to production was the technology required to tell it convincingly. Given the success in recent years with technological aging, such as Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Jeff Bridges in TRON: Legacy, Robert Downy Jr. in Captain America: Civil War, and Michael Douglas in Ant-Man, it seems now is the right time. Unfortunately, all of the recent cases featured actors in short scenes, given the time and budget required to de-age someone using computer effects, so it will cost Sundance a lot if they choose to do a whole movie involving the technology.

Ang Lee recently directed Billy Lynn’s Halftime Walk, where he experimented with camera frames-per-second speeds. The only other film Lee is working on is Thrilla in Manila, telling the story of the third and final boxing match in 1970s between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazie.

Stay tuned for more details about Gemini Man.