Morgan Freeman Sees 'Red' with Bruce Willis

DC is stepping up its efforts in the movie game, sparked no doubt by The Dark Knight and the success of films by the company's rival, Marvel Comics. So we're getting The Green Lantern, which is great, Flash, which could blow out loud, and there are also plans for Aquaman, which...well, if they pull it off, then kudos. Seems almost impossible to me. But DC is also developing some lesser known titles from its other sources, like the espionage caper, Red, a Wildstorm comic written by Warren Ellis and illustrated by Cully Hamner. The raised eyebrow comes from the studio behind this adaptation. Rather than dealing with Warner Bros., which is a relative of DC under the Time-Warner banner, Summit Entertainment (Twilight) picked up the rights to Red last year. Bruce Willis is set to star as a "black-ops CIA agent now living a quiet life in retirement until the day a high-tech assassin shows up intent on killing him." Variety also says Morgan Freeman is in talks to join Willis. I suppose Freeman could be the retired CIA agent, although in the comic that character's a bald white guy. Don't have to stick to that, of course, but if you've got Bruce Willis on board, please don't let him wear a hairpiece. That's all I ask. It's taken a while for the project to get to this point; the original announcement came last summer, but at that time, Summit wasn't in the position it's in now, as a mini-major studio on the way up. This could be a shrewd move by all parties involved, at least in the board room. It takes a well-received comic property away from the mega-expectations of Warner Bros., which gives it, in my estimation, a better chance for success in the long term, especially if the story fits Ellis' model. And that would open the door for more films like this down the line. I've been critical of DC for years, because outside of two 30-year-old Superman movies and maybe four of the six Batman films, DC hasn't done a whole lot but squander opportunities. I'm still not in love with the way DC is handling its properties (again with Superman?, a Dark Knight-level budget for Green Lantern, the foibles of JLA, a habitually shelved Wonder Woman), but I think I could really like this move.