Akiva Goldsman’s directorial debut Winter’s Tale nabs Russell Crowe and Will Smith

Well, that’s one way for an often-lambasted writer/producer to get attention.

Warner Bros. greenlit Akiva Goldsman’s adaptation of Mark Heprin’s “Winter’s Tale” a year ago, but it hasn’t gotten anywhere in development. Rumors of the film not having secured funding didn’t stop Goldsman from trying to cast the film, and today we hear that he somehow has done it. 

Not only that, but he got the two stars from perhaps his most famous films- Russell Crowe (A BEAUTIFUL MIND) and Will Smith (I AM LEGEND), to appear in his directorial debut.

The synopsis of the book-

New York City is subsumed in arctic winds, dark nights, and white lights, its life unfolds, for it is an extraordinary hive of the imagination, the greatest house ever built, and nothing exists that can check its vitality. One night in winter, Peter Lake–orphan and master-mechanic, attempts to rob a fortress-like mansion on the Upper West Side.

Though he thinks the house is empty, the daughter of the house is home. Thus begins the love between Peter Lake, a middle-aged Irish burglar, and Beverly Penn, a young girl, who is dying.

Peter Lake, a simple, uneducated man, because of a love that, at first he does not fully understand, is driven to stop time and bring back the dead. His great struggle, in a city ever alight with its own energy and beseiged by unprecedented winters, is one of the most beautiful and extraordinary stories of American literature.

According to Vulture Goldsman “called in every favor he had” to get the two big name stas, and even then they’ll only be appearing in minor roles. Crowe looks like he’ll appear as Pearly Soames, a gangester boss, and Smith will play a judge, The lead roles haven’t been set yet.

Soon, we will see what Goldsman directing looks like, and I’m not sure how scared we should be, especially since the book actually sounds pretty interesting. Not sure what will happen to it once the scribe behind BATMAN & ROBIN and I, ROBOT gets a hand on it. WINTER’S TALE is set to begin shooting this fall.