Ben Stiller is a great director. I know that, you know that, a lot of people know that. But not enough people know that. Too many people see Stiller as the goofy, eternally-frustrated character he plays in most of his films, not as a talented filmmaker who is capable of much more than comedy.
That’s why it’s exciting to hear that Stiller’s next directorial effort, London, is being called a “high-concept thriller.” The film will be based on a new short story from Jo Nesbo and will be written by Eric Roth. Better yet, Oscar Isaac has signed on to star in — and produce — the film. This is quite the team, huh?
We don’t know what London will be about but it’ll likely be wildly different from most of Stiller’s work. This won’t be anything like Tropic Thunder or The Cable Guy. Hopefully it’ll be much more like Stiller’s terrific Showtime mini-series Escape at Dannemora. Stiller won himself a DGA Award for his work on that project and deservedly so. The direction in that series was fan-flipping-tactic and really proved that Stiller will be a wonderful asset to the thriller genre.
London will be a smaller project for Isaac, who has recently been seen in Star Wars and will next appear in Dune. The man got his start in quiet, indie fare but has quickly become a huge, massive star. It’ll be nice to see him return to his roots. It’ll be even nicer to see Stiller helming that return.