Los Angeles: Actors Vin Diesel and Chris Tucker are in negotiations to join the growing cast of Billy Lynn's "Long Halftime Walk", the adaptation of the Ben Fountain novel being directed by Ang Lee.
TriStar and Film4 are partnering with Studio 8 on the feature project, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Newcomer Joe Alwyn is starring as the title character with Steve Martin, Kristen Stewart and Garrett Hedlund in various stages of negotiations to join the roll call.
Simon Beaufoy wrote the screenplay telling the story of a 19-year-old private (Alwyn) who survives a battle in Iraq that is captured by news cameras. He and his company of soldiers are brought back to the US for a promotional tour culminating in a halftime show at a Thanksgiving Day football game. Most of the movie takes place during the day of the game, with flashbacks to the wartime events.
Diesel will play a professional soldier while Tucker will play a movie producer who is intent on making a movie about the soldiers. Production begins later this month.
The studio is planning a shoot in native 3D and 4K, and will look to innovate with revolutionary new high-frame-rate technology. Producers are Marc Platt, Ink Factory's Stephen Cornwell, Rhodri Thomas and Simon Cornwell. Lee is also producing.
