Helmer Cassavetes catches 'Cacciato'
Adapted O'Brien novel to shoot in eight counrties
He's now casting his independently financed film for an early 2000 start, and he's looking for a few good men up for some cinematic sightseeing that will cover the eight countries that make up the sprawling story.
Film has created buzz lately as the Cassavetes script has made the rounds and attracted strong young names to take part in the ensemble piece set in Vietnam.
Title character, fed up with trying to destroy Vietcong tunnels and losing members of his battalion in bloody carnage, goes AWOL with the intention of walking to France. His battalion mates set out to follow him and bring him back, though it is unclear whether they have authorization to do so, or if they will really bring him back.
Cassavetes last directed "She's So Lovely," the script written by his late father John Cassavetes. He was given the "Cacciato" book by that film's producer, Butch Kaplan, and sparked to the idea of trying to turn it into a feature which Kaplan will produce.
The novel won the National Book Award in 1979 and has been optioned before, but in some respects represents as difficult an adaptation as "The Thin Red Line," which Terrence Malick finally brought to the screen last year, garnering several Oscar nominations.
"I read it and fell in love with it, despite the conventional wisdom that it would be impossible to translate into film," said Cassavetes. "I adapted it into a script, sent it to Tim, and he flipped. We optioned it ourselves, and after the script got out, we were courted all over the place."
He declined to name his backer at this point, but said the budget's in place for a logistically challenging shoot that will cover locations in Vietnam, Thailand, Nepal, India, Turkey, Greece, France and the U.S.
"Without giving the story away, it's a tale about how anything is possible, a theme not dissimilar to Cervantes' 'Don Quixote.' What we are doing now is getting the 10 to 15 actors we need to bring it to life," said Cassavetes, who's repped by CAA.
