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Training Day scribe David Ayer has finally shared an update about the current status of his upcoming action adventure movie titled, Heart of the Beast. This project officially reunites him with Oscar-winner Brad Pitt, after over a decade since first working together in 2014’s World War II drama Fury.

During a recent interview with Collider, Ayer confirmed that production on Paramount Pictures’ Heart of the Beast movie is scheduled to begin soon, while also teasing that project’s “old-school adventure” vibe. “We’re going to camera shortly. I’m about to get back to Brad with another collaboration. All I can say is it's just going to be a classic old-school adventure movie,” Ayer said. “This is what Hollywood excelled at for decades, and I want to bring that cinematic tradition back and just adventure storytelling.” In addition, when asked how his reunion with Pitt came to be, the filmmaker...

Anna Lambe is set to co-star alongside Brad Pitt in Paramount Pictures’ action-adventure movie The Heart of the Beast.

Lambe, known for North of North and True Detective: Night Country, joins previously announced castmembers Pitt and J.K. Simmons in director David Ayer’s feature. Cameron Alexander wrote the script and serves as executive producer.

The Heart of the Beast centers on a former Army Special Forces soldier (Pitt), who fights for survival with his combat dog after a plane crash strands them in the Alaskan wilderness. Details of Lambe’s role remain under wraps, and a release date has not yet been announced.

Producers include Damien Chazelle and Olivia Hamilton for their Wild Chickens Productions banner through its first-look deal with Paramount. Also producing are Temple Hill Entertainment, Ayer for Crave Films and Pitt for Plan B. Richard Raymond serves as co-producer.

Lambe plays the lead on the Canadian comedy series North of North,...

David Ayer reunites with his star of The Beekeeper, Jason Statham, for their new action flick, A Working Man. While doing press for his new film, Ayer talks with The Hollywood Reporter and one story he will undoubtedly get asked about is his notorious passion to get his version of Suicide Squad from 2016 to screen to an audience. THR asked if WB, DC and James Gunn were still silent on the matter and Ayer replied, “Yeah, for sure. When I did speak with James [Gunn], he wanted to [first] get some scores on the board. DC has its history and its legacy, and it’s taking some work to reestablish that IP and get it moving in the direction they want. So it’s absolutely fair for them to do that.”

DC Films head James Gunn and David Ayer have both shown goodwill towards each other and Gunn did tease that there...

For David Ayer, 2024’s The Beekeeper was exactly what the doctor ordered.

The action-thriller starring Jason Statham was a critical and commercial win for Ayer, grossing over $160 million against a $40 million budget. The second-most profitable film in the filmmaker’s body of work couldn’t have happened at a better time since he’d gone through various ups and downs following the release of 2016’s Suicide Squad. Consequently, Ayer and Statham quickly re-upped their newly minted partnership for A Working Man, which is an adaptation of Chuck Dixon’s Levon’s Trade, the first installment in his dozen-book series.

Sylvester Stallone penned the initial draft of the script before passing the material on to his frequent collaborator, Statham. The story centers on a blue-collar construction worker named Levon Cade who reluctantly reconnects with his Royal Marines Commando skill set in order to recover his boss’ (Michael Pena) kidnapped daughter. Thus,...

Nine years later, The Accountant is back, and this time, the stakes weren’t just on screen. The sequel’s director had a massive challenge – bringing J.K. Simmons into the mix in a way that mattered. It wasn’t just about adding a big name; it was about making his role feel personal.

J.K. Simmons in Spider-Man | Credits: Marvel Studios

That meant digging into the details, crafting a character that could hold his own in a world built around Ben Affleck’s calculating antihero.

J.K. Simmons’ exit was personal and it set The Accountant 2 in motion Ben Affleck in The Accountant | Credits: Warner Bros.

Nine years later, The Accountant is back, but not everyone made it out alive. Director Gavin O’Connor had the tough job of telling J.K. Simmons that his character, Ray King, wouldn’t survive the sequel. The reason? He wanted to make things personal...

After generating much buzz with his hard-hitting action flick The Beekeeper, David Ayer is partnering with Brad Pitt for Paramount‘s Heart of the Beast. Ayer’s latest project finds the director re-teaming with J.K. Simmons, who starred alongside Christian Bale in Ayer’s action thriller Harsh Times. Pitt and Simmons have also worked together in 2001’s The Mexican and the Coen Brothers’ comedy Burn After Reading. Unlike the Coens’ satirical crime thriller, Heart of the Beast finds Brad Pitt and J.K. Simmons traveling to the Alaskan wilderness for a chilling survival tale from Cameron Alexander.

According to Deadline‘s description, Heart of the Beast “follows a former Army Special Forces Soldier and his retired combat dog who battle for survival after a plane crash deep in the unforgiving Alaskan wilderness.”

Alexander will executive produce and write the screenplay, which Damien Chazelle and Olivia Hamilton will produce through Wild Chickens Productions.

Exclusive: The Whiplash Oscar winner is boarding the David Ayer directed Paramount Pictures production Heart of the Beast opposite Brad Pitt.

It’s the second time that J.K. Simmons as worked with Ayer after the 2005 Christian Bale crime drama Harsh Times, and it’s the third time he’s starred in a Pitt movie after 2001’s The Mexican and the Coen Brothers George Clooney-Frances McDormand 2008 comedy caper Burn After Reading.

Deadline first told you about Heart of the Beast.

Cameron Alexander, who penned the script, will executive produce. The movie follows a former Army Special Forces Soldier and his retired combat dog who battle for survival after a plane crash deep in the unforgiving Alaskan wilderness.

Damien Chazelle and Olivia Hamilton are producing under their Wild Chickens Productions banner as part of their first-look deal with the studio. Ayer is producing under his Crave Films banner, with Temple Hill Entertainment,...

Brad Pitt is to star in 'Heart of the Beast'.The 61-year-old actor is set to reteam with his 'Fury' director David Ayer for the first time since they made the 2014 World War II drama on his upcoming Paramount Pictures action adventure film, and will also produce the movie through his Plan B Entertainment company.'Heart of the Beast', which has been written and will be executive produced by Cameron Alexander, follows a former Special Forces soldier and his retired combat dog as they battle for survival following a plane crash in the Alaskan wilderness.Damien Chazelle and Olivia Hamilton will also produce via their Wild Chickens Productions company under the terms of their first-look deal with the studio, with David also producing via Crave Films, along with Temple Hill Entertainment, and so will Richard Raymond.'Heart of the Beast' will be Brad's next role after he is...

Brad Pitt has several projects in the works, whether as an actor or producer, but he has no intention of stopping. Pitt has just scored his next role, and it reunites him with the director of 2014's Fury.

Per Deadline, Brad Pitt just joined director David Ayer's new project, Heart of the Beast. The two previously worked together on the Sony war drama where Pitt played the lead character, Don "Wardaddy" Collier, who was the tank commander. Their new project will be an action adventure film for Paramount Pictures.

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Ayer joined the project in March 2024 after the success of the Jason Statham-led The Beekeeper. Although the director intends to work again with Statham in the future after...

F1 star Brad Pitt is not slowing down anytime soon, as he is now set to reunite with the director of one of the most underrated films in the actor's filmography. In 2014, Pitt starred in David Ayer's Fury, a World War II film that followed a five-person tank crew as they rush into enemy territory in order to deliver the final blow in the long-lasting war. Over 10 years later, Pitt is now teaming up with Ayer once again, but this time he will be flying solo in the Alaskan wilderness.

According to Deadline, Pitt has signed on to star in and produce Heart of the Beast for Paramount Pictures. Ayer is set to direct the action-adventure film based on a script by Cameron Alexander. Heart of the Beast will follow Pitt as a former Army Special Forces soldier attempting to survive the Alaskan wilderness after a plane crash. The...

Brad Pitt and David Ayer are getting the band back together for the upcoming World War II action-adventure film Heart of the Beast. Pitt joins the project as a leading man and producer through his Plan B Entertainment studio. Heart of the Beast reunites the duo for the first time since 2014’s Fury, starring Pitt as a seasoned U.S. Army sergeant in charge of a five-person Sherman tank crew during World War II. The new film takes Pitt and Ayer to a vastly different territory by bringing the action to the Alaskan wilderness.

David Ayer directs Heart of the Beast from a script by Cameron Alexander, who also serves as an executive producer. According to Deadline‘s exclusive report, Heart of the Beast “centers on a former Army Special Forces soldier and his retired combat dog who battle for survival after a plane crash deep in the unforgiving Alaskan wilderness.

Brad Pitt is set to star in Paramount Pictures’ “Heart of the Beast,” according to an insider with knowledge of the project. David Ayer is directing.

Damien Chazelle and Olivia Hamilton are producing under their Wild Chickens Productions banner as part of their first-look deal with the studio. Ayer will produce under his Crave Films banner, along with Temple Hill Entertainment and Brad Pitt through his Plan B banner.

Cameron Alexander, who penned the script, will executive produce. Richard Raymond is co-producing.

The story follows a former Army Special Forces soldier and his retired combat dog who battle for survival after a plane crash deep in the unforgiving Alaskan wilderness.

Pitt will next be seen Apple’s “F1” racing film from “Top Gun: Maverick” director Joseph Kosinski, which will be released on June 27. Meanwhile, his Apple TV+ film “Wolfs” with George Clooney became the platform’s most-watched movie after premiering...

Brad Pitt is set for his next big project with Heart of the Beast, an action-adventure film directed by David Ayer. The movie will be produced by Pitt’s company, Plan B Entertainment, and marks his first collaboration with Ayer since their successful film Fury, where Pitt played a U.S. Army sergeant during World War II.

The plot of Heart of the Beast follows a former Army Special Forces soldier and his retired combat dog who are stranded in the harsh Alaskan wilderness after a plane crash. The script was written by Cameron Alexander, who will also be an executive producer.

Along with Ayer, Damien Chazelle and Olivia Hamilton will produce the film under their Wild Chickens Productions. The project has multiple producers, including Temple Hill Entertainment and Richard Raymond, co-producing.

For Brad Pitt, this role follows his involvement in other big projects. His recent work includes F1, an upcoming sports action movie for Apple,...

After back-to-back team-ups with Jason Statham on The Beekeeper and the upcoming actioner A Working Man, David Ayer will be entering the Heart of the Beast with a familiar partner. Per Deadline, Paramount has closed a deal with Brad Pitt to have the two-time Oscar winner lead Ayer's new adventure flick, which was announced last March. He's set to produce the film under his Plan B banner too, joining a team that's already loaded with talent between Damien Chazelle and Olivia Hamilton, whose Wild Chickens Productions banner is also attached, and writer Cameron Alexander.

Exclusive: Brad Pitt has found his next star vehicle in Heart of the Beast, David Ayer’s action adventure film for Paramount Pictures, on which we were first to report last March. He’ll also produce for his Plan B Entertainment.

Written by Cameron Alexander, who will executive produce, the film centers on a former Army Special Forces Soldier and his retired combat dog who battle for survival after a plane crash deep in the unforgiving Alaskan wilderness.

Damien Chazelle and Olivia Hamilton will also produce under their Wild Chickens Productions banner, as part of their first-look deal with the studio. Ayer produces under his Crave Films banner, along with Temple Hill Entertainment, and Pitt under his Plan B banner. Richard Raymond is co-producing.

For Pitt, Heart of the Beast marks the follow-up to F1, Apple’s anticipated, big-budget sports actioner, which Warner Bros releases in theaters on June 27. He...

On Friday, Oct. 19, Variety partnered with the Santa Fe International Film festival to celebrate its 10 Screenwriters to Watch. All 10 recipients gathered at Santa Fe’s Lensic Performing Arts Center for a lively conversation about their path to screenwriting and the work that earned them their place on Variety’s annual list of the most promising up-and-coming scribes in the entertainment industry.

The panel began with a conversation about the films that first made them want to be screenwriters — and in some cases, exposed them to the idea that writing for film and television was a job they could pursue. Among their responses, “Fancy Dance” co-screenwriter Miciana Alise named John Huston’s “Annie” (“Carol Burnett just takes up the whole screen”), while her partner Erica Tremblay remembered “The Last Emperor” making a lasting impression; Noah Pink (“Eden”) said “Jurassic Park;” Tory Kamen (“Eleanor the Great”) and Nora Garrett (“After the Hunt”) agreed that “Juno,...

David Ayer's new project, Heart of the Beast, follows a Navy Seal and his combat dog in Alaska. No casting has been confirmed yet, but the script suggests a more nuanced, solo role compared to Statham's usual. Ayer's collaboration with Statham continues in an adaptation of Chuck Dixon's Levon's Trade.

The Beekeeper director David Ayer has another new project lined up following the unexpected box-office success of his Jason Statham-led action-thriller. Grossing $152 million at the worldwide box office against a modest $40 million budget, The Beekeeper proved itself an unlikely box-office hit in the wake of Statham’s far more costly outings in 2023’s Fast X and Expend4bles. Serving as Ayer’s first collaboration with the English action star, the pair are also set to reunite on an adaptation of Chuck Dixon’s Levon’s Trade for Amazon MGM.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, Ayer has also signed with Paramount Pictures...

David Ayer is following up the success of The Beekeeper with a new dramatic thriller from producer Damien Chazelle.

Ayer is set to direct Paramount Pictures’ Heart of the Beast from a script by Cameron Alexander. The feature, which has been in development since 2017, follows a former Navy Seal and his combat dog amid their attempt to find civilization after getting stranded deep in the Alaskan terrain.

Producers include Chazelle and Olivia Hamilton of Wild Chickens Productions, in addition to Ayer and Chris Long of Cedar Park Entertainment.

Ayer most recently helmed Amazon MGM Studios’ The Beekeeper, the Jason Statham-led thriller that surpassed $150 million at the global box office. The filmmaker, who wrote Training Day and worked on the script for The Fast and the Furious, has previously directed Fury, Suicide Squad and Bright.

Chazelle’s directing credits include Whiplash, La La Land, First Man and Babylon. During a...

David Ayer recently turned heads with The Beekeeper, a seemingly run-of-the-mill Jason Statham action film that turned out to be a strange mish-mash of ideas and bold choices that still feels like a fever dream. Ayer has had some hits under his belt, but as a whole, the filmmaker’s resume has some divisive receptions among them. This brings us to the interesting partnering with the Whiplash, La La Land and Babylon director Damien Chazelle. As Chazelle attempts to recover from Babylon‘s flopping, the First Man director will only be producing the new film that Ayer will helm.

Deadline reports that Ayer will be directing Heart of the Beast. The film will come from Chazelle and spouse Olivia Hamilton’s company, Wild Chicken Productions, as part of their first look deal with Paramount. Ayer and Chris Long will also produce alongside under their Cedar Park Entertainment banner. The screenplay comes from scribe Cameron Alexander,...

Exclusive: Fresh off the success of his action pic The Beekeeper, David Ayer is continuing to stay busy as the director has signed on to helm Paramount Pictures’ Heart of the Beast. Damien Chazelle and Olivia Hamilton are producing under their Wild Chickens Productions banner as part of their first-look deal with the studio. Ayer and Chris Long will produce alongside under their Cedar Park Entertainment banner.

Cameron Alexander, who penned the script, will executive produce.Richard Raymond is co-producing.

The story follows a former Navy Seal and his retired combat dog who attempt to return to civilization after a catastrophic accident deep in the Alaskan wilderness.

Ayer is not shy of showing his appreciation of the military whether by some of the films he has directed like World War II pic Fury or his social media, which is filled with posts that properly honor those who have served and...

Rounding up the best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood, as voted on by hundreds of film executives, The Black List has been a strong resource to clue one in on projects to potentially anticipate, but first, to kickstart Hollywood on bringing them to screen. Today we have this year’s edition, as voted on by more than 375 film executives.

Topping the 2023 edition is Travis Braun’s Bad Boy, which follows a rescue dog who suspects his loving new owner is a serial killer. Other scripts include The Great Pretender, a drama which imagines the kidnapping of Tom Hanks; the Super Bowl-set sniper drama The Nest; the Area 51 thriller 10/24/02; a Hans Christian Andersen meets Charles Dickens fantasy; plus films about Patsy Cline, Didier Drogba, Arthur Miller and Elia Kazan, Ftx’s downfall, and more.

See the list below via Deadline (and Pdf here), ranked from top to bottom by number of votes.

The Black List has revealed its 2023 list of best unproduced screenplays, with scripts that include a biopic of country singer Patsy Cline, the rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried crypto empire Ftx, and an action-comedy about Tom Hanks and his doppelganger.

Topping this year’s list is a feature script from Travis Braun titled Bad Boy, with a logline that reads: “A rescue dog suspects his loving new owner is a serial killer.”

Elsewhere on the list is a screenplay about the Broadway playwright behind notorious disaster Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark from writer Hunter Toro, and a script focused on soccer star Didier Drogba from Jackson Kellard.

“This year, the industry was defined by a debate about the value of writers within it, and I think it’s inevitable that this year’s Black List means more than it has in the past,” said Black List founder and CEO Franklin Leonard.

Exclusive: Daniela Taplin Lundberg, one of the producers of the critically acclaimed Beasts of No Nation as well as Sundance favorite Patti Cake$, has picked up the spec Heart of the Beast from writer Cameron Alexander after a competitive bidding situation. Lundberg will produce the dramatic thriller through her New York-based company Stay Gold Features. Heart of the Beast is about a former Navy Seal and his retired combat dog who attempt to return to civilization after…...

A science-fiction pitch from a writer with the name .Cameron. could have CBS Films dreaming dreams of Avatar-level box office receipts. For the moment, though, executives at the aggressive studio should dial back expectations until they see what they have in this debut screenplay from relative newcomer Cameron Alexander . and not James Cameron, after all. But who knows, Alexander may soon be on his way if his script Omega Point, which The Hollywood Reporter says CBS Films just optioned, is a smash hit. The 25-year-old writer has penned a sci-fi story about a young man who reportedly encounters a downed spacecraft near a crash site in the woods. Upon exploring, the man finds and befriends .a god-like artificial intelligence agent desperate to escape earth.. Omega already has some support. CBS Films executives Mark Ross and Alex Ginno will shepherd the project to theaters. It will be co-produced by Sidney Sherman,...

"Downton Abbey" creator Julian Fellowes is set to executive produce a film adaptation of Marcus Blake's action-adventure novel "Atlantis: Revelation" for Amber Entertainment.

The story is the first in a planned trilogy exploring the notion that the myth of the lost city of Atlantis was real. Penguin Books U.K. will publish the first novel in October.

Meanwhile, CBS Films has optioned Cameron Alexander's sci-fi spec script "Omega Point" which Sidney Sherman will produce.

The story centers on a young man who comes across a mysterious crash site in the woods where he discovers and befriends a god-like artificial intelligence agent desperate to escape earth.

Finally, Barbara Marshall ("Terra Nova") has come onboard to pen "Exorcism Diaries" for Summit Entertainment.

Roy Lee, Sonny Mallhi and Doug Davison will produce the story, which is inspired by Mark Opsasnick's book "The Real Story Behind The Exorcist".

Sources: Variety and Heat Vision...

CBS Films has optioned Omega Point, a sci-fi spec script from newcomer Cameron Alexander. Sidney Sherman, a co-producer on the 2006 John Travolta thriller Lonely Hearts, is on board to produce via his Rosa Entertainment banner. The story centers on a young man who comes across a mysterious crash site in the woods where he discovers and befriends a god-like artificial intelligence agent desperate to escape earth. Execs Mark Ross and Alex Ginno are overseeing the project for CBS Films. Omega is the first sale for the 25-year-old Alexander, a budding music video director (one of

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