July 25, 2014–TriStar Pictures will finance and release “Money Monster,” starring George Clooney as a stock picker held hostage on TV.
Jodi Foster is directing the project from Jamie Linden’s script, in which the hostage taker is a man who lost his money after following the tout’s advice — and threatens to kill him if the cameras are turned off.
Plans are for production in the spring after Clooney completes shooting on “Hail Caesar” for the Coens.
The producers are The Allegiance Theater’s Daniel Dubiecki, Lara Alameddine and Smokehouse’s Clooney and Grant Heslov. “Money Monster” has a budget of $30 million.
Clooney will be seen next in Brad Bird’s “Tomorrowland,” which Disney will release in May.
Foster, who’s been attached to “Money Monster” since 2012, has directed “The Beaver” starring Mel Gibson, “Home for the Holidays” and “Little Man Tate.”
TriStar, headed by Tom Rothman in a joint venture with Sony, is in production on “The Walk,” which is directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Joseph Gordon Levitt. It’s also developing “Ricki and the Flash,” which stars Meryl Streep with Jonathan Demme directing; an untitled comedy by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo; and an adaptation of Alan Bennett’s “The Lady In The Van ” with Maggie Smith.