Young actors probably all secretly dream of being compared to River Phoenix (or James Dean, or even Heath Ledger) whose untimely death has created a permanent and nearly untouchable image of the late actor as the pinnacle of untapped youthful talent, but to take a role originally meant for Phoenix must be on a whole other level entirely. Deadline reports Caleb Landry Jones will be the one to experience that surreality as he has been cast as the male lead in “Broken Dream”, which director John Boorman wanted to shoot with Phoenix nearly 20 years ago. He’s spent the time since searching for the right actor to take over the role, and it appears he’s finally found it in Jones.
Described as “love story in a futuristic, post-holocaust atomic world,” Phoenix had been slated to star alongside Winona Ryder in 1993, and now the search is on to find a leading lady for Jones. Perhaps the rising actor always had an inside track as the screenwriter who wrote it, all the way back in 1979, is Neil Jordan, who Jones recently wrapped up working with on vampire flick “Byzantium.”
“Byzantium” co-starred Gemma Arterton, Saoirse Ronan and Sam Riley, and Jones also recently appeared at the Cannes Film Festival where he starred in Brandon Cronenberg’s feature debut, “Antiviral” opposite Sarah Gadon. He played Sean Cassidy, the mutant known as Banshee in “X-Men: First Class” and should be expected to return for its sequel, filming early next year.
