Acclaimed director Ron Howard surprisingly had a tough time finding a distributor for his upcoming film, Eden. This is even with an all-star cast including Ana De Armas, Sydney Sweeney, Vanessa Kirby, Jude Law and Daniel Bruhl. The film eventually found a distributor when it was acquired by the studio Vertical for domestic distribution and they are looking to cap off the summer by premiering the movie on August 22. Despite this case, Howard is now working with Amazon MGM Studios on a new firefighter movie.
One of Howard’s past hits was the 1991 film Backdraft, which also sported an all-star cast, including Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rebecca De Mornay, Donald Sutherland, Robert De Niro, Jason Gedrick and J. T. Walsh. Backdraft followed Chicago firefighters on the trail of a serial arsonist. Industry insider, Jeff Sneider, reported in his newsletter, The InSneider, that Howard will be directing a new, as-of-yet untitled, firefighter film with Glen Powell in the lead role. No other details are revealed in the exclusive other than it will be from a screenplay by Christina Hodson, whose credits include Bumblebee and Birds of Prey.
Meanwhile, Howard’s Eden is based on an unsolved mystery that unfolded on a remote island in the Galapagos and charts the lengths humans will go in pursuit of happiness. The producers say Eden “explores the human condition in ways that are unexpected, absurd, humorous, sexy, but above all thrilling and deeply suspenseful.“ Other reports have revealed that the screenplay by Tetris writer Noah Pink is based on “two different accounts of the same true story.” It’s said to be “a darkly comic tale of murder and survival, set around a group of eclectic characters who abandon civilization for the Galapagos. They are all searching for the answer to that ever-pressing question that plagues us all: what is the meaning of life.” Howard has been wanting to bring the story to the screen for 15 years, ever since he visited the place where the real events took place.
As for Powell, he can be seen in an upcoming comedy titled Chad Powers from Hulu. The official plot of Chad Powers, as per Hulu, reads: “When bad behavior nukes hotshot QB Russ Holliday’s college career, he disguises himself and walks onto a struggling Southern football team as the talented, affable Chad Powers. Based on the sketch produced by NFL Films and Omaha Productions that aired on ESPN+ as part of the Eli’s Places series, the half-hour comedy from 20th Television will stream on Hulu. Powell and Waldron co-wrote the pilot.”
