Hillel Levin talks about the film, the casting of Rob & Robert De Niro (oh how I LOVE typing their names together) & who they will both be playing. As Hillel Levin says below, he is the author of the 2007 article for Playboy ‘Boosting The Big Tuna’ which the film is based on. SO excited for this film 😀

From Hillel Levin’s Blog:

Big news for this project out of Cannes, where director Olivier Assayas released his latest film, Clouds of Sils Maria. He will next work on Idol’s Eye, a movie based on my April 2007 article for Playboy called, “Boosting the Big Tuna.” The story is about burglars who break into the home of Chicago’s longtime Godfather, Tony Accardo. Robert Pattinson will play the burglar ringleader, who is based on John Mendell–a freelance “juice man” or “wire man” capable of overcoming the most sophisticated burglar alarms, but also the proprietor of a machine shop who was desperate to go “legit.” De Niro will play Accardo, who ruled Chicago’s mob for five decades. Despite the fact that he’s hardly a household name, I would argue that Accardo was America’s most important organized crime figure in the twentieth century. He not only influenced politics in the Windy City, but also corrupted wide swaths of the union movement (e.g. Teamsters and Laborers), and probably did more to build the Las Vegas Strip (mostly with Teamster pension funds) than anyone else. He features prominently in my play, “Assassination Theater.” By the time of the burglary, he had become practically an establishment figure in Chicago–unusually accessible to the neighbors in his wealthy suburb, courtly to the power elite, with whom he occasionally rubbed shoulders, but still bone-chillingly ruthless with anyone who crossed his path in the criminal world–as Mendell eventually found out. It will be fascinating to see De Niro’s approach to the part. One funny note: the dispute between Accardo and Mendell centers on the burglary of a high-end pawn shop. Somehow, in the mix of accents at Cannes, “pawn” got turned into “porn.” I hope the reality here does not disappoint.

Thanks to Darcy for the tip.

You can read an excerpt from the Big Tuna which we posted here last week.

 

I’m not sure how anything is going to outdo May 2014 because every day you seem to wake up to exciting news about Rob’s career.  According to Variety:

“Oscar-winning actress Rachel Weisz is in negotiations to join Robert Pattinson and Robert De Niro for Olivier Assayas’ sprawling Chicago-set gangster drama “Idol’s Eye,” which is due to start shooting in the fall.  

Exciting casting news!

Via Deadline:

The plot of director Olivier Assayas’ next pic is being kept under wraps, but it’s described as a sophisticated heist action-thriller. Robert De Niro has joined the cast of Idol’s Eye alongside Robert Pattinson. Benaroya Pictures has come aboard to finance the project, which is expected to start production in October in Chicago and Toronto. Charles Gillibert developed and produced Idol’s Eye with CG Cinema, Bluegrass Films’ Scott Stuber, Film 360’s Scott Lambert, Alexandra Milchan and Michael Benaroya. Ben Sachs is executive producing.

 

ScreenDaily:

Robert De Niro has joined Olivier Assayas’ Idol’s Eye.

De Niro will star alongside Robert Pattinson in the sophisticated heist action/thriller with further plot details currently under wraps.

Benaroya Pictures will produce and finance the film, which is set to begin principal photography in October in Chicago and Toronto.

Charles Gillibert developed and produced the project with CG Cinema, Bluegrass Films’ Scott Stuber, Film 360’s Scott Lambert, Alexandra Milchan and Michael Benaroya. Ben Sachs executive produces for Benaroya.

International Film Trust, which was co-founded by Benaroya, will be handling international sales.

CAA, which arranged financing, will represent domestic rights along with WME.

Allocine France spoke to Olivier Assays at Cannes & he mentiond Rob & Idol’s Eye.  I am LOVING the sounds of this film.  Cannot wait to hear more.   The whole interview is in French but have included the tanslation below thanks to Pattinson Art Work

Transation:

Olivier Assayas: My next film, I will shoot it in the fall, in Chicago, it’s a genre film, this is a story of Mafia and burglars, it takes place in the late 70s and there is an internationnal casting.

Allociné: And there’s Robert Pattinson, it’s sure?

Olivier Assayas: Yes yes yes

Allociné: And it has to do with Kristen Stewart or is it coincidence?

Olivier Assayas: Oh no it is blind chance, it is blind chance.

For those who might have missed this news yesterday, Rob pretty much confirmed that his new movie with Assayas’ is in fact “Hubris” which is now called Idol’s Eye.  A gangster drama you say *twirls*.

Olivier Assayas will enter production during November on his gangster drama, Idol’s Eye, starring Robert Pattinson

— Cinefile Review (@CinefileReview) May 21, 2014

Thanks Clara for the tip.

Updated: From The Playlist:

It has already been a busy 2014 for Robert Pattinson, and he’s not slowing down any time soon. The actor will be leaving the Cannes Film Festival feeling pretty good, receiving good notices both “The Rover” and “Maps To The Stars”. And not only does he have promising projects in the can and still to come — Werner Herzog’s “Queen Of The Desert” and Anton Corbijn’s “Life” — on the horizon, he has James Gray’s “The Lost City Of Z” and a possible project with Harmony Korine. And now you can add a movie with Olivier Assayas to the list.

Last week, the filmmaker revealed he had Pattinson lined up to star in his next film, and this week, the actor confirms his involvement in an interview with La Nouvel Observateur. Pattinson says he’ll be shooting the film in November, and shares that it’s about a group of men who rob a porn store only to find out it’s actually a mafia front. And from that description, it sounds a lot like “Hubris,” the project Assayas lined up last year. In fact we’d wager it’s the same one, but it seems there’s been a title change.

Le Monde (via Looking For More) reports that the film is titled “Idol’s Eye” and it will have a budget of $30 million. And we already know that the film is based on a 2007 Playboy article called “Boosting The Big Tuna” by Hillel Levin and is inspired by actual events, in which a bunch of regular criminals accidentally robbed Chicago mafia boss Tony Accardo.

Very promising stuff, and hopefully more details about this one arrive soon, and they likely will, with cameras slated to roll in less than six months.

According to Rope of Silicon “The story will center on a group of men who rob a porn store only to find out it’s actually a mafia front.”

Updated again:

Here’s an article “Boosting the Big Tuna” for some background mentioned above by The Playlist.