Katrina Kaif and Priyanka Chopra in ‘Italian Job’ remake
January 6th, 2010By Jilawatan
So its a done deal, Abbas-Mustan have bought the rights to the Hollywood smash hit ‘The Italian Job’. Abhishek Bachchan and Neil Nitin Mukesh had already signed on for the flick but the filmmaking duo were on the hunt for the female leads. According to new reports Priyanka Chopra and Katrina Kaif are in talks to star in the film. Kunal Kapoor and Akshaye Khanna have also been roped in for the project.
In case you didn’t already know, The Italian Job starred Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Jason Staham, Edward Norton and a bunch of zippy cars that drove in tunnels, subways and heavy traffic. The Italian Job was itself a remake of the 1961 film of the same name, which starred Hollywood veteran Michael Caine in the lead role.
The yet untitled Bollywood remake will be directed by Abbas-Mustan. Neil Nitin Mukesh will play Mark Walberg’s character while Saif Ali Khan will slip into the antagonist Edward Notron’s shoes. Reportedly John Abraham and Ranbir Kapoor were considered for the role of Neil. “We’re changing the original film considerably. There’ll be two important female characters in our version who weren’t there in the original” Abbas said to reporters. “There are a lot of changes in the script. But in spirit our The Italian Job will remain the same. So far, we’ve not locked in the entire cast. But we’re definitely in serious talks with all the names (Katrina, Priyanka) you’ve mentioned. It’s a very big project and we need to get the biggest names in place before we start.”
In the 2003 film, a gang of thieves (Wahlberg, Theron, Staham, Norton) plan a heist by creating a massive traffic jam with the help of some nifty equipment and ideas. Norton double crosses them and keeps the huge stack of money for himself, while the others are reduced to making a run for it. Two years later the gang reunites to take revenge on Norton and steal the stolen money from him.
Screenwriter Rohit Jugraj said, “Though the producers and Abbas Mustan have bought the remake rights, we’ve changed the Hindi version of The Italian Job considerably. For one, the stakes for the heist are much higher. The situations, fights and adventures are all different – and so are the characters.”
Abbas-Mustan recently worked with Bipasha Basuand Bipasha Basu in the 2007 thriller ‘Race’. The main draw of ‘The Italian Job’ was the cars; which cars do you think should be featured in the movie?
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