Roland Emmerich may have fumbled the ball with his Independence Day sequel, but he’s not sitting around crying about it. He’s finally moving forward on another passion project, Midway, one of those big historical epics he likes to dabble in every now and then. And this one’s shaping up to be quite a show, with the ever-busy Woody Harrelson reuniting with Emmerich, his director on the disaster flick 2012.
Harrelson, along with This Is Us star Mandy Moore, are in talks to lead the WWII film about the Battle of Midway, a key turning point in the war. Emmerich will direct from a script by Wes Tooke (Colony) that centers on the soldiers and aviators that helped the Allied forces secure their first naval victory over the Japanese.
The $100M project could use Harrelson’s star power for sure. He scored his third Oscar nomination earlier this year for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, but also managed to lead a number of successful franchises. He’ll be seen next in Solo: A Star Wars Story. This will be a return to the battlefield for him after a role in Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line. Moore has a role in this summer’s sci-fi flick The Darkest Minds, the live-action debut of Kung Fu Panda director Jennifer Yuh Nelson. [Deadline]
