What’s interesting about Peter Berg’s career isn’t that this goofy character actor has become one of my favorite directors, it’s that he gets attached to more projects that remoras get attached to sharks. Last week when the rumor went up that he might direct Will Smith in the dark, revisionist superhero movie Tonight, He Comes, I sort of didn’t pay a lot of attention – wasn’t he also directing Splinter Cell and The Losers and a remake of The Mission and Bran Mak Morning Mix or whatever that one was called?
But it turns out Berg really has signed on to Tonight, He Comes, and he’ll begin shooting it in March. Tonight, He Comes has been in the making forever – I think it’s gone through 287 directors so far. It’s about a superhero who smokes, drinks, fucks around and is sick of the public and rescuing them. Then he falls in love with a housewife and things start changing.
Apparently Berg’s deal was getting held up because Sony was trying to put a price cap on the movie, which will have extensive visual effects. It’s not going to be a cheap film by any means – Smith alone costs a fortune, and the lead female role is supposed out to the not generally affordable Charlize Theron.
Berg is finishing up the military vs terrorist movie The Kingdom right now; Tonight, He Comes will be filmed on the heels of Will Smith finishing the very long shoot for I Am Legend. Who wants to take bets that they change that terrible fucking title?