Daniel Radcliffe is hellbent on establishing himself as one of the most dynamic and exciting young actors in the business, and he’s now signed on to play the villain in action-packed rom-com The Lost City of D, which has Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum in the lead roles. Siblings Adam and Aaron Nee will direct from a script by rom-com veteran Dana Fox, whose previous credits include The Wedding Date, What Happens in Vegas, and Couples Retreat, although the original idea for the story came from Horrible Bosses’ Seth Gordon.
The project was originally announced last October, with the news that Paramount was looking to re-team Bullock with Ryan Reynolds for the first time since 2009 smash hit The Proposal, but Tatum’s mix of physicality, charisma, and comic timing makes him a more than adequate substitute. The plot has more than a hint of Romancing the Stone about it, following Bullock’s reclusive romance novelist who gets stuck on a book tour with the airhead cover model from her latest release. However, a kidnapping attempt throws them headfirst into a jungle adventure where the tension will no doubt that they’ll overcome their differences and strike up some romance of their own before the credits roll.
There’s no additional word on what Radcliffe’s role will entail, but it furthers his exciting career trajectory that’s seen him veer as far away from Harry Potter as possible by playing characters that include a farting corpse, an FBI agent who infiltrates a neo-Nazi gang, a computer programmer with guns bolted to his hands, a South African political prisoner and more.
The Lost City of D is looking like a high-priority project for Paramount, especially when Bullock has drastically scaled back her onscreen output over the last decade, and she’s set to produce as well as play the lead role. In a refreshing twist on the standard romantic formula we typically see in big-budget Hollywood blockbusters, the Academy Award-winning actress is sixteen years older than co-star Tatum, but it’s that kind of world we live in where the female lead being significantly older is both a rarity and something that isn’t highlighted all that often.
With Bullock, Tatum and Radcliffe now in place as the leads, not to mention the additions of Patti Harrison and Da’Vine Joy Randolph last week, The Lost City of D is coming together nicely. The premise makes it sound like the sort of old-fashioned rollicking adventure the major studios don’t really tend to make anymore, which is exactly why it could stand out among a crowded pack of identikit spectacle-driven movies whenever it ends up hitting the big screen.