27 Oct – After being in the works for nearly two years, the rocker dramedy film "Imagine" has finally got a move on, with the increasingly busy "Hope Springs" actor Steve Carell having left the production and is replaced by 41-year-old Jeremy Renner, according to Collider.
The film is set to be written and directed by Dan Fogelman, who is best remembered for having penned "Bolt", "Crazy, Stupid, Love." and the upcoming comedy starring Seth Rogen, "The Guilt Trip". "Imagine" centres on a sixty-something Bruce Springsteen-type rocker, who discovers a long unopened letter written by John Lennon to him when he was 19 years old, which inspires him to track him down his son who he has never met.
Renner's role in the film will be that of the lead character's estranged adult son, while the aging rock star role has been taken up by Al Pacino. Meanwhile, "Crazy, Stupid, Love." actress Julianne Moore has also been roped in for the film, in the role of a New Jersey hotel manager that Pacino's character strikes up a friendship with when he takes up residence there.
"Imagine" marks Fogelman's directorial debut, and its subject matter is one that has been close to his heart for a while. Aside from inspiring the aging rocker to get back in touch with his son, Lennon's posthumous letter also reminds him of the love of music that got him in the game in the first place, and to stop leaning on the crutch of all his old hits and get back into the business of making new stuff.
According to Film School Rejects, when talking about his upcoming film and all of these new casting developments that have taken place, the burgeoning filmmaker said, "Every writer has 'that one project,' the one they feel so strongly about that they can't bear to turn it over to anyone else. For me, that project is Imagine. It was a career highlight simply to get a script of mine into Al Pacino's hands. To have him read it, and then want to star in it... it's five steps past career highlight. And now, to have Julianne Moore and Jeremy join the fray...it's beyond my wildest dreams. I've been hiding in my house for the past few weeks... out of fear that someone would pinch me. We are going to make a very special film here."
Currently, a Spring 2013 production start date is planned. While waiting for "Imagine", fans can watch Jeremy Renner next in "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters" alongside Gemma Arterton, out in Malaysia and Singapore in January 2013.
