DEADLINE: Hollywood Warner Bros Has Jesse Eisenberg, Shia LaBeouf In Crosshairs For ‘Arms & The Dudes’
EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros and Todd Phillips are starting to get serious about Arms & The Dudes, the film about two stoners who become arms dealers. Talks are about to get underway with Jesse Eisenberg and Shia LaBeouf to star in a film that Phillips will direct about the two unlikeliest arms dealers who got a $300 million contract to supply weapons for its allies in Afghanistan. They soon found themselves in danger abroad and in trouble back home because they were completely out of their depth. The pic is based on a Rolling Stone article by Guy Lawson and Phillips has been working on it for years under his Green Hat banner; it becomes the first major project since he joined forces with Bradley Cooper. Mark Gordon is also producing and Bryan Zuriff is exec producer. Jason Smilovic is writing the script with Phillips. Gordon got this party started, finding the article and joining forces with The Hangover director to turn it into a film.
Eisenberg stars as Lex Luthor in Batman V Superman at Warner Bros, and wrapped American Ultra. He’s repped by CAA and so is LaBeouf, who most recently was seen in the Lars Von Trier-directed Nymphomaniac double feature, and Charlie Countryman. He’s managed by John Crosby. Jesse Ehrman and Jon Gonda are overseeing the project for the studio.