News

“The Exorcist” and “The French Connection” auteur William Friedkin is gearing up to direct his first film in five years, an adaptation of the play “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial,” and “24” star Kiefer Sutherland is in talks to star in the film, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.

Sutherland would play Lt. Commander Queeg in the film, which is an adaptation of the two-act play by Herman Wouk, itself based on Wouk’s own Pulitzer Prize-winning novel from 1951 “The Caine Mutiny.” And the screenplay for Friedkin’s film is in fact from Wouk himself, a 50-year-old draft based on the original source material, with Friedkin making revisions.

“The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial” in particular only shows the court martial scene from the larger story, and it puts the audience in the position of the jury as we only know what’s said in the trial, none of the events that led to the mutiny.

With The French Connection, The Exorcist, Sorcerer, and more, William Friedkin has directed some of the finest movies out there. The director has been more selective with the projects he takes on in recent decades, but Deadline reports that William Friedkin will direct Kiefer Sutherland in an adaptation of Herman Wouk’s The Caine Mutiny.

Related The Exorcist (1973) – Wtf Really Happened to This Horror Movie?

Set during World War II, The Caine Mutiny follows a young man who joins the Navy and ends up on a minesweeper in the Pacific. When the commanding officer shows signs of becoming unhinged, the Xo takes command and is then court-martialed for mutiny. It’s been over a decade since William Friedkin released his last narrative movie (Killer Joe), but the director is very excited about his latest project.

I’ve looked at a lot of scripts in the last 10 years, and I haven...

It’s been more than a decade since William Friedkin directed a narrative feature. That was 2011’s “Killer Joe.” But that doesn’t mean the filmmaker behind “The Exorcist” and “The French Connection” is retired. Far from it. In fact, he just lined up his next feature.

According to Deadline, William Friedkin is set to direct “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial” with Kiefer Sutherland leading the cast.

Continue reading William Friedkin To Direct Kiefer Sutherland In A Remake Of ‘The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial’ at The Playlist.

"The Exorcist" and "The French Connection" filmmaker William Friedkin will be returning to feature filmmaking for the first time in over a decade, according to Deadline. The acclaimed director, who is considered a pioneer of the New Hollywood movement, hasn't made a narrative feature since 2011's "Killer Joe."

The new movie will reportedly be an adaptation of "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial," which was both a Pulitzer-winning novel and a play by Herman Wouk in the 1950s. The story follows a naval officer and his colleagues through the process of being court martialed for a mutiny that took place aboard a potentially unstable ship. While the novel takes place during World War II, Friedkin's update to the story reenvisions it in a modern setting, set around the Strait of Hormuz near Iran. "24" actor Kiefer Sutherland is set to star.

Friedkin told Deadline that he's looked at several scripts over the past decade,...

While the likes of Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg have had a relatively easier time finding the resources to get their films realized, not all the New Hollywood directors have had similar luck. William Friedkin, who hasn’t made a narrative film since 2011’s Killer Joe, is finally looking to return to the director’s chair with a new project.

Friedkin will direct Kiefer Sutherland in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, based on a script dating back a half-a-century ago by Pulitzer Prize winner Herman Wouk. The drama, which was adapted into a 1954 film starring Humphrey Bogart as well as a Robert Altman television picture in 1988, follows “a naval officer who stands trial for mutiny for taking command from a ship captain he feels is acting in unstable fashion, endangering both the ship and its crew.”

“I’ve looked at a lot of scripts in the last ten years, and I...

Exclusive: William Friedkin has been plenty selective in the films he directs, but the heralded helmer of The French Connection, The Exorcist, To Live and Die in L.A. and others has found both a script and a star he could not resist.

Kiefer Sutherland will star as Lt. Commander Queeg in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, using a 50-year-old play script written by Herman Wouk from his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. It is being plotted for a January start, and casting is just getting underway. Annabelle Dunne and Matt Parker are producing. Sutherland’s deal is being finalized.

“I’ve looked at a lot of scripts in the last 10 years, and I haven’t seen anything I really wanted to do,” said Friedkin, who most recently directed 2011’s stylish noir drama Killer Joe starring Matthew McConaughey. “But I think about it a lot, and it occurred to me that could be...

Thirteen years after winning his only Emmy for a “Ford Star Jubilee” production of “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial,” Lloyd Nolan received a second nomination for his work on the first season of NBC’s “Julia.” The titular Julia Baker, played by Diahann Carroll, was the first Black female lead character in TV history who was not employed as a servant. The widowed single mother worked as a nurse under Nolan’s Dr. Morton Chegley for the entirety of the show’s three-season run.

“Julia” earned four Emmy nominations in its first year, including ones for Best Comedy Series, Best Comedy Actress (Carroll), and Best Comedy Guest Actor (Ned Glass). At age 66, Nolan established himself as the oldest contender in the history of the Best Comedy Actor category. He held onto that position for six years and then stayed in second place for another four decades. Since 2015, he has been steadily...

Thirteen years after winning his only Emmy for a “Ford Star Jubilee” production of “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial,” Lloyd Nolan received a second nomination for his work on the first season of NBC’s “Julia.” The titular Julia Baker, played by Diahann Carroll, was the first Black female lead character in TV history who was not employed as a servant. The widowed single mother worked as a nurse under Nolan’s Dr. Morton Chegley for the entirety of the show’s three-season run.

“Julia” earned four Emmy nominations in its first year, including ones for Best Comedy Series, Best Comedy Actress (Carroll), and Best Comedy Guest Actor (Ned Glass). At age 66, Nolan established himself as the oldest contender in the history of the Best Comedy Actor category. He held onto that position for six years and then stayed in second place for another four decades. Since 2015, he has been steadily...

David Schwimmer has returned to The Gersh Agency, the talent shop confirmed to TheWrap. Schwimmer had been at CAA for a couple of years, but was at Gersh before then. The move reunites Schwimmer with longtime agent Leslie Siebert, a partner at Gersh. Also read: With Img Deal, Wme Surpasses CAA in Size – But at What Cost? Schwimmer has lined up a series of films and plays since his career-defining turns in “Friends” and “Band of Brothers.” He appeared in Neil Labute’s “Some Girl(s)” in London and made his Broadway debut in “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.” On the film side,...

Director Robert Altman.

Robert Altman: Eclectic Maverick

By

Alex Simon

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the April 1999 issue of Venice Magazine.

It's the Fall of 1977 and I'm a bored and rebellious ten year old in search of a new movie to occupy my underworked and creativity-starved brain, feeling far too mature for previous favorites Wily Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) and Return of the Pink Panther (1975), and wanting something more up-to-date and edgy than Chaplin's City Lights (1931). I needed a movie to call my favorite that would be symbolic of my own new-found manhood (and something that would really piss off my parents and teachers). Mom and Dad were going out for the evening, leaving me with whatever unfortunate baby-sitter happened to need the $10 badly enough to play mother hen to an obnoxiously precocious only child like myself. I scanned the TV Guide for what...