Fifty Shades’ James Foley to direct prison movie Alcatraz
James Foley, the director of the latter two installments of the Fifty Shades trilogy, has just signed on to direct the prison escape movie Alcatraz, according to Collider.
The film, which is being produced by Basil Iwanyk and Gianni Nunnari for Thunder Road and Hollywood Gang productions, will follow a bank robber sent to the titular prison who attempts to escape from the inescapable island. The film is based on the true story of Frank Morris, a bank robber who helped lead three other prisoners escape from The Rock in June 1962 and are still on the U.S. Marshall Service’s “Most Wanted” list over 50 years after their disappearance.
Morris’ escape has been seen in film before in 1979’s Escape From Alcatraz, based on the book of the same name written by J. Campbell Bruce and starring Clint Eastwood as Morris, as well as Jack Thibeau (Lethal Weapon) as Clarence Anglin and Fred Ward (2 Guns) as John Anglin. While the true results of the escape are still unknown, the film, which received critical acclaim and box office success, hinted that the prisoners were successful in making it to the mainland.
Foley has had a very prominent career behind the camera in Hollywood, directing the highly-acclaimed film adaptation of Glengarry Glen Ross, the cult crime drama Confidence, the second and final installments of the Fifty Shades series, Darker and Freed, as well as episodes of Twin Peaks, Hannibal, House of Cards and Billions.
Alcatraz is being written by Ian Mackenzie Jeffers, who wrote James Wan’s first venture into the action genre, 2007’s Death Sentence, as well as the 2011 Liam Neeson-led survival thriller The Grey, which he co-wrote with director Joe Carnahan based on his short story “Ghost Walker.”
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)