Netflix recently unveiled a pretty star-studded original film calledTriple Frontier, but the project has actually been in the works for nearly a decade and has gone through various A-list permutations over the years. As it stands now, the film is directed and co-written byJ.C. Chandor(A Most Violent Year) and starsOscar Isaacas a private military advisor who enlists his former special forces buddies to travel down to Columbia and steal millions of dollars from a drug lord.Ben Affleck,Charlie Hunnam,Pedro Pascal, andGarrett Hedlundfill out the ensemble, as the film takes an intriguing, dark look at the power of greed.
ButTriple Frontierfirst originated all the wayback in 2009as a high-profile project for a very different reason: it was announced as the new film fromThe Hurt LockerdirectorKathryn BigelowandHurt LockerwriterMark Boal, marking their follow-up feature after winning the Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay Oscars.
At the time, the project was described as an action-adventure film set in the titular “triple frontera”, which is a border zone of South America known to be a haven for organized crime. The first, unconfirmed casting rumors peggedSean Penn,Javier Bardem, andDenzel Washingtonas being in line for starring roles, but those never really materialized into anything substantial.
Indeed our first serious casting report arrived in October 2010, when none other thanTom Hankswas said to be circling one of five major roles. This is curious for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that it’s hard to imagine someone like Hanks inhabiting a character as morally grey as the leads ofTriple Frontier. While we never got confirmation as to who he was in line to play, and the screenplay at that point was different, I suppose it makes a bit of sense if he were considering the Affleck or Isaac role.
Casting on the film continued, and Hanksofficially signed onto star in November 2010. Bigelow, meanwhile, met with a number of A-list actors to fill out the ensemble, includingWill Smith,Christian Bale,Leonardo DiCaprio,Jeremy Renner, andJohnny Depp—although scheduling conflicts withDark Shadowsultimately prevented Depp from signing on despite engaging in talks.
Filming was due to begin in fall 2011 as Bigelow and Boal continued developing the film, but in December 2010, a report surfaced that the filmmaking duo were considering making an “indie thriller” based on a “true story” beforeTriple Frontier. Details on that project were kept under lock and key, but we would eventually discover that that project wasZero Dark Thirty, the controversial thriller about the hunt for and assassination of Osama Bin Laden. When Bin Laden was killed in May 2011, suddenlyZero Dark Thirtyhad an ending, and Boal dove head-first into research (including conducing interviews with CIA officials) to get the story straight. As we all know, that didn’t turn out so well.
The point is,Zero Dark Thirtysuddenly becamea thing, which putTriple Frontieron the backburner for a while. Bigelow and Boal made their Bin Laden film somewhat in secret, and the movie weathered one of the nastier Oscar campaigns in recent memory to only win one award, Best Sound Editing.
In December 2012, the same month thatZero Dark Thirtywas released, a new report surfaced that shined a light on whyTriple Frontierhad yet to happen.THRnoted that Paramount Pictures—the studio behind the film—balked at its $80 million budget and urged Bigelow and Boal to bring it down. Moreover, Paramount was reportedly high on casting Smith, but Bigelow wasn’t too keen on the idea—to the point that the studio had to force a meeting between the actor and director.
After this,Triple Frontierkind of went into hibernation for a bit. Bigelow and Boal moved on, and in 2015 it was announced that J.C. Chandor—the filmmaker behindMargin CallandAll Is Lost—was coming onboard to direct. Little did we know, even more production troubles were ahead.
Casting this movie proved to be incredibly difficult. When Chandor signed on, it was reported that Hanks and Smith were still keen on starring, but that never came to fruition. Then in January 2016, Depp entered early talks to sign on, which also ultimately never went anywhere. A full year later, in January 2017, it appeared as though forward momentum had arrived withTom Hardy,Channing Tatum, andMahershala Alicircling three major roles. Then a couple months later in April 2017, theentire movie fell apart.
Indeed, in April 2017—a month before filming was due to begin—both Hardy and Tatum dropped out of the movie, and Paramount Pictures also dropped their plans to make the film, putting it in turnaround. Chandor had reportedly rewritten the script to a point that neither Tatum nor Hardy loved, which is what spurred them to leave and Paramount to drop the film altogether.
A month later, in May 2017, Netflix—and the Affleck brothers—came to the rescue. It was reported that Netflix was looking to pickTriple Frontierup as an abandoned project from Paramount, with the streaming service prepared to offer roles to both Ben Affleck andCasey Affleck. This ultimately did happen, but somewhat hilariously—because this project is cursed—Ben Affleckdropped out of the movie in July 2017to “focus on his wellness and his family.” As we well know Affleck eventually returned to the project, and it wasn’t like he left over creative differences in the first place. But for a spell there, this appeared to be falling apart all over again.
So finally, in March 2018,Triple Frontierentered its final form as Ben Affleck signed back on and Chandor filled out his ensemble with Isaac, Hunnam, Hedlund, Pascal, andAdria Arjona. Nearly a decade after we first heard about this project, and in averydifferent form.
In many ways,Triple Frontieris indicative of just how hard it is to get a movie made. you’re able to have Oscars for Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay, you can have an A-list cast, but if the stars don’t align in just the right way—if all parties involved can’t agree on the story direction or creative decisions—it doesn’t happen. So here’s to perseverance on the part of producerCharles Roven.
Triple Frontieris now available to stream on Netflix.
For more onTriple Frontier, peruse links to our recent coverage below:
