While The Help director Tate Taylor’s follow-up film Get on Up was a bit of a disappointment, his next movie is shaping up to be one hell of a prestige project. Scripted by Erin Cressida Wilson, Taylor’s adaptation of author Paula Hawkins' bestselling novel The Girl on the Train—the fastest-selling book for adults in history—first nabbed Emily Blunt as its star, then secured Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation standout Rebecca Ferguson to co-star alongside Haley Bennet, forming the core trio for the DreamWorks adaptation. That right there is enough enticement for most films, but now two highly talented actors are looking to possibly boost the starpower of this project even further, as The Wrap reports that Chris Evans and Jared Leto are circling the roles of Tom and Scott, respectively the husbands of the characters played by Ferguson and Bennett.
Evans and Leto are being sought after for the roles, but scheduling issues may ultimately prove insurmountable. Evans is getting ready to shoot director Marc Webb’s drama Gifted then moves into press for Captain America: Civil War next spring. As for Leto, he has commitments to his band Thirty Seconds to Mars, from whom he already took considerable time off this year to play The Joker in David Ayer’s supervillain picture Suicide Squad for Warner Bros.
So what is this Girl on the Train story that has everyone all hot and bothered? The book follows a lonely, alcoholic divorcee (played by Blunt in the film) who uses her daily commute to fantasize about the seemingly perfect life of the couple she glimpses every day when the train stops at the signal. One day, however, she sees something shocking during the train’s routine stop, and subsequently becomes entangled in a web of intrigue.
The novel drew comparisons to Gone Girl, another dark female-led thriller that proved to make the jump from book to screen very well, so interest has been high for a while. It's kind of refreshing to see a big project like this driven by talented actresses, so Evans and Leto would simply be icing on the cake. Whether deals with Evans and/or Leto materialize, it’s certainly clear that this is one of the more sought after projects in town. Count this among my most anticipated films of 2016.
