Last Flag Flying, director Richard Linklater's upcoming movie, is a sequel to the classic dramedy The Last Detail, which was nominated for three Oscars. Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston and Laurence Fishburne are currently engaged in discussions to star in this movie.
Adapted from a novel, the first installment was directed by Hal Ashby and starred Randy Quaid, Otis Young and Jack Nicholson who won a BAFTA for his work. Darryl Ponicsan, the author of the novel, released a sequel in 2005.
In 2006, Linklater expressed keen interest in adapting Ponicsan's book for a movie. It will be Linklater's first project partnering with Amazon Studios who recently released Woody Allen's Cafe Society and Nicolas Winding Refn's The Neon Demon.
Randy Quaid, Jack Nicholson and Otis Young in The Last Detail (1973).
The original story begins with two Naval Junior Officers (Nicholson and Young) who are instructed to escort a young offender (Quaid) to prison. Along the journey, they somehow unanimously decide to give him the time of his life by allowing him one last chance to do whatever he wishes before he serves his sentence.
Last Flag Flying reunites the trio, who are now living a post-9/11 American life: The former naval petty officers come to the aid of their former prisoner who needs their help to bring back home the body of his son who has been killed in Iraq. The request sends them back retracing their journey from Norfolk, Va., to Portsmouth, N.H. Filming will possibly start in November.
Helen Mirren and Bryan Cranston in 'Trumbo'.
Cranston is coming off his Oscar-nominated performance in Trumbo. He can also be seen in Lionsgate’s live action Power Rangers reboot. Fishburne will be starring in Morten Tyldum’s 2016 science fiction movie Passengers, while Carell will be acting opposite Emma Stone in the movie Battle of the Sexes.
