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Finally, we have some real movement on Michael B. Jordan‘s long-gestating The Thomas Crown Affair. Back in 2016, MGM Studios announced that the Creed actor was working on a reimagining of the heist drama about a bored playboy who commits a bank robbery just because he can. In our original writeup of the news—which came out before MGM Studios merged with Amazon—The A.V. Club writer Mike Vago posited that Jordan’s film could be out in time for the 50th anniversary of the original, directed in 1968 by Norman Jewison. That didn’t happen, but the film still is. Today, Deadline announced that Taylor Russell (Bones And All) will star opposite Jordan, meaning this thing is actually going into production.
Russell will be playing Vicki Anderson, an insurance investigator who trails Thomas and eventually falls for him. There have already been two versions of the film—Jewison’s and a previous reimagining from John McTiernan in 1999—which saw Faye Dunaway and Rene Russo inhabit the role respectively. Steve McQueen played Thomas Crown in the 1968 film, while Pierce Brosnan took on the role in 1999. In addition to playing the titular character, Jordan is also on board to both direct and executive produce, from a script by Drew Pearce (The Fall Guy).
The not-so-newly-minted Amazon MGM Studios is taking its sweet time with every aspect of this project. Deadline notes that Russell went through a “long” casting process to land the part, including multiple meetings and auditions before a screen test with Jordan earlier this year. Production is slated to begin this summer in London.
In addition to Bones And All, Russell has also appeared in Mother Couch with Ewan McGregor and Rhys Ifans, A24’s Waves, Netflix thriller Lost In Space, and more. Jordan is known for his roles in the Creed and Black Panther films, as well as Fantastic Four and Fruitvale Station. This April, he’ll play twin leads in Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. The Thomas Crown Affair will be his sophomore directorial effort after 2023’s Creed III.
