Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell, Laurence Fishburne to Star in Richard Linklater’s “Last Flag Flying"

                                       

Richard Linklater has found his next project and set an all-star ensemble to lead the film.


Linklater will direct and write a long-in-the-works adaptation of the novel “Last Flag Flying,” with Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell, and Laurence Fishburne in talks to star. The movie is a sequel of sorts to the 1973 film “The Last Detail” starring Jack Nicholson and directed by Hal Ashby.

Darryl Ponicsan’s “Last Flag Flying,” published in 2005, is the follow-up to his 1970 novel, which was turned into the movie starring Nicholson, Randy Quaid, and Otis Young. Set during the Iraq War, the more recent book sees the return of the classic characters Billy Bad-Ass, Mule, and the hapless Meadows. The former Navy petty officers (played by Nicholson and Young in the original film) come to the aid of the ex-con (then portrayed by Quaid) trying to bring home the body of his son, who was killed in Iraq.



Amazon is circling the project as a financier and distributor.

Linklater has been trying to get the film off the ground since 2006, at one time hoping to cast the surviving original stars of “The Last Detail” in the second installment. His most recent movie, “Everybody Wants Some!” premiered earlier this year. He is repped by CAA.

Carell was most recently seen in “The Big Short.” He is repped by WME.

Cranston is coming off his Oscar-nominated performance in “Trumbo” and was also recently nominated for an Emmy in “All the Way,” in which he played President Lyndon B. Johnson. He is repped by UTA.

 In select theaters November 3.

Credit: Justin Kroll