There hasn't been a lack of hunky dudes for Warner Bros. and Akiva Goldsman to look at for the male lead in the writer/producer's directorial debut "A Winter's Tale." With "Downton Abbey" star Jessica Brown-Findlay already tipped as the frontrunner for the female lead, a handful of names have already been batted around to feature opposite the actress including Benjamin Walker, Tom Hiddleston, Aaron Johnson and Garrett Hedlund. But the the filmmaker and the studio have floated the offer out to someone else entirely.
Colin Farrell is now the choice to take the part, though it should be noted, that negotiations haven't started so it's all pretty tentative at the moment. It seems the studio is still keen on the actor even after he bailed due to scheduling issues on David Dobkin's on again/off again "Arthur & Lancelot." According to Variety's sources, Farrell is apparently looking to retain the heat that will apparently be coming from "Total Recall" this summer. We'll see about that.
The ambitious film is based on the acclaimed 1983 novel by Mark Helprin, a fantasy story that follows a thief who breaks into a wealthy man’s home, sparking a relationship with the man’s terminally ill daughter with reincarnation, a flying horse, and a time-shift of 100 years all playing a part of the plot. Findlay-Brown will portray the dying young woman, and should he take it, Farrell will play the thief. Cashing in a couple favors, and easing the worries at WB about the risky nature of the project, Goldsman already has star Will Smith and Russell Crowe set to take small parts, the former as a judge and the latter as the gangster Pearly Soames.
So we'll see how this goes. But even if Farrell doesn't take it, Goldsman will have time to find his name as shooting isn't set to begin until October.
