James Mangold To Direct Icelandic Thriller Remake CITY STATE

James Mangold, the super talented master of all trades director behind Cop Land, Walk the Line, 3:10 to Yuma and Knight & Day had been expected to be shooting Hugh Jackman in The Wolverine right now, but with the actor lured into the bumped up Les Miserables adaptation delaying the X-Men prequel by at least six months, the helmer is now looking to for a new project to fill his time. Deadline reports that Mangold has struck a deal to direct the Indie film City State, a remake of Iceland director Olaf de Fleur Johannesson€˜s converging narratives drug trade thriller that hasn't even opened in his own country yet. Presumably Mangold has actually seen the film for himself but who knows. IMDB have the plot details;

When a foreign mafia decides to take control of the Icelandic drug market, a police woman lost in violence, a mechanic revenging for his lost son, a crime kingpin with a heart condition, a corrupt officer in love with a prostitute will destroy each other.

The English language movie will most likely be an Americanised version of this tale and as no word on a screenwriter. Perhaps all they have done is copy the script into google translator and change the language to English. Here's the trailer for the original; City State Trailer #2 from Olaf de Fleur on Vimeo. It sure sounds like a very ordinary thriller for Mangold to get his teeth stuck into but of course he's done the routine, no thrills material as a film-maker before, most notably with 2003's John Cusack vehicle Identity, and as we said is the master of genre films. He may be the most uncomplicated film-maker in history. No pretension, just good stories and good films. If nothing else it'll be an easy diversion for him as he stays loyal to Fox and awaits his chance at The Wolverine. Mangold's Tree Line Films will develop, Danny Sherman and Josh Kesslman of Principal Entertainment will produce and it should film within the next few months.