News > Richard Gere to Star with Swank in "Amelia"

Recently resurrected Richard Gere has signed on for two new feature films, namely "Amelia" a film about the life and death of America's most famous female aviator, and "Brooklyn's Finest," an ensemble cop drama about drugs, corruption, and the usual Antoine Fuqua-style action.

In the former, Gere will be playing publisher George Putnam, husband of Amelia Earhart, played by Hilary Swank. We heard a few months back that director Phillip Noyce had walked away from the project due to creative and logistical difficulties, but now it seems that director Mira Nair will be helming the production, having had to delay her film "Shantaram" as a result of the writers' strike. Ron Bass wrote the screenplay that will focus on Amelia's flying as well as her "rocky marriage" to Putnam (Variety).

As for the latter:

"Brooklyn's Finest" revolves around three unconnected Brooklyn cops who wind up at the same deadly location, despite vastly different career paths. One has gone undercover to crack drug gangs; another has engaged in graft and corruption; while another has played by the rules and put in his time on the force up until his retirement.

Ah, the three great cop archetypes, together at last. Maybe they'll have a fat partner who eats doughnuts all day and another one whose defining characteristic is that he hates minorities. It sounds like the three leads will be Gere, Ethan Hawke, and Don Cheadle. I don't know for sure, but my educated guess would be that Gere is the one waiting for retirement, Cheadle is undercover, and Hawke is corrupt, though those last two could easily be switched. Fuqua is directing from a screenplay by Michael Martin.

Gere is currently shooting Lasse Hallstrom's "Hachiko" and he begins his work on "Amelia" later this month.

-David Morgan