“But what I really want to do is direct!” – this is a common adage among successful actors. Most recently, Oscar-winner Russell Crowe made his directorial debut with the Australian period drama The Water Diviner (currently playing in theaters) and Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman will unveil her feature directorial debut A Tale of Love and Darkness as special screening at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival. Today comes word that 2-time Oscar-winner (and upcoming Bond villain) Christoph Waltz will make his directorial debut with the based-on-a-true-story crime drama The Worst Marriage in Georgetown.
The Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained actor will star as Albrecht Muth, an eccentric social climber and romancer of older, wealthy women. Muth, at the age of 26, married 71-year-old widow Viola Drath. The duo became popular fixtures in Washington D.C., known for throwing lavish parties frequented by the top of the political food chain. In 2011, Drath was found dead in the couple’s Georgetown home, which brought to the surface Muth’s former life, most of which he fabricated in his attempts at climbing the social ladder. David Auburn, who won a Pulitzer Prize for the acclaimed play Proof (which became a 2005 feature starring Gwyneth Paltrow, which Auburn adapted), wrote the screenplay. The film is based on Franklin Foer’s New York Times Magazine article.
Production is scheduled to start this October with Voltage Films aboard to finance and produce the movie; distributions sales are scheduled to be made available at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival. While The Worst Marriage in Georgetown marks Waltz’s feature directorial debut, the Austrian actor previously directed the German television film Wenn Man Sich Tract in 2000. Since then the actor has exploded internationally, mostly thanks to his Academy Award-winning performances in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds (2009) and Django Unchained (2012). Most recently, Waltz appeared opposite Amy Adams in Tim Burton‘s Big Eyes. That film, while perhaps not as dramatic as The Worst Marriage in Georgetown, similarly cast Waltz as a social climbing schemer who dupes a woman into an unhealthy marriage. Waltz received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in that movie.
As far as what else is in the pipeline for the actor, Waltz will be seen in a supporting role in Tulip Fever, a romantic drama starring Jack O’Connell (Unbroken) and Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina) from director Justin Chadwick (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom). He will also appear in David Yates’ Tarzan opposite Alexander Skarsgard (The Diary of Teenage Girl) and Margot Robbie (Focus). Most eagerly anticipated will be Waltz’s involvement in Spectre, the latest James Bond film set to arrive in theaters this November.
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