Jodie’s back, fighting for justice. She’s part of the cast of Prisoner 760, playing a lawyer defending a man who was detained at Guantanamo Bay detention facility without charges for over a decade. The true story of Mohamedou Ould Slahi (French actor Tahar Rahim, A Prophet), a man suspected of ties to al-Qaida, and his 10-plus year wait for charges or help, the film stars Foster and Shailene Woodley as lawyers working on his case, as well as Benedict Cumberbatch as a military prosecutor. Cumberbatch is executive producing the project, to be directed by Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland) and written by acclaimed journalist and producer Michael Bronner (United 93, Captain Phillips). Following the initial rush of Bush-era narrative and documentary features about the so-called War on Terror, this project has the feeling of a next wave of stories, ones obscured during the chaos of the Trump era, where the legacy of America’s now seemingly endless wars is subject to renewed scrutiny. No word yet on when to expect this one, but it’s guaranteed to be heavy when it hits.
Anna Vadimovna Sorokina, aka Anna Sorokin, aka Anna Delvey, knew how to run the grift on rich people. The Russian-born trickster moved to New York City in 2013, assumed the identity of a fictitious German heiress, and began stealing in earnest. Her marks were high society types and fancy hotels, and she was good at it for a while. But then she got caught, was tried, was sentenced, and is currently serving 4 to 12 years. Meanwhile, though, Shonda Rhimes is bringing the story to Netflix with Emmy winner Julia Garner (Ozark) as Delvey, and a solid supporting cast, including Laverne Cox, Anna Deavere Smith and Anna Chlumsky (Veep) as journalist Jessica Pressler, who broke the story (unusual fun fact: this will be the second time Pressler has been portrayed on screen, after Julia Stiles played her in Hustlers). And because stories about robbing from the rich and giving to the poor – or whoever, really – are universally appealing (and because we stand Laverne Cox in anything, even TV commercials with Ted Danson) we’re more than ready to watch this one.
Romeo San Vicente loves any column that has Jodie Foster and Shonda Rhimes in it!
