*sniffs* I can’t seem to let this movie go …  I hope Rob would still consider being involved if this film ever gets back up.  We know he wants to work with Assayas, and although Assayas is working on something else now, you just never know.  Look how long it’s taken James Gray to get The Lost City of Z close to filming and I’m saying close because until Rob’s in that jungle I’ll be holding my breath … well not really, but you know what I mean.  Anyway 2008 was when that film was first optioned and originally had Brad Pitt on board.  I’ll stop getting my hopes up.  From Edge Baltimore:

“EDGE: What happened with ‘Idol’s Eye,’ the Robert Pattinson/Robert DeNiro project?

Olivier Assayas: It was a film I had been working on for two years that basically fell apart 24 hours before shooting last November because we realized the financer did not have money to finance the film. It was just demented, but that’s what happened. Now, my producer and myself are trying to revive the project. We own the rights but it’s still a question mark. I hope I will make this film one day, but right now I’m focusing on something else.”

Rodrigo Perez of The Playlist had the opportunity to talk to French director Olivier Assayas about last year’s disappointing shutdown of ‘Idol’s Eye’, which had a superb cast list including Rob and Robert DeNiro. Sad to say, it sounds like the project is officially cancelled.

The director was ready to mount his first American-financed film, the crime story “Idol’s Eye” starring Robert Pattinson, Robert De Niro, and Rachel Weisz, when financiers Benaroya Pictures pulled out at the last minute. The reasons that the film shut down at the time were somewhat cryptic, but obviously creatively and financially motivated. At the time, Benaroya released a statement that claimed “the criteria for financing” was “not being met by producers,” and that they had “[missed] a number of financing criteria deadlines.” Thus, the company felt at risk and pulled the plug.

Asssayas and his producers never really had their chance to respond, so we had to ask. “It was a horror,” Assayas said. “A long painful horror story. Let’s just say that did it put me off being involved with these kinds of projects in any kind of way in the foreseeable future.”

While the filmmaker didn’t exactly spell out in any specific terms what the disagreements were, he did suggest that the financiers weren’t above board, nor were they on the same page with the filmmakers. Has the experience put him off American productions in general? “Let’s say I’ll think twice about it — the possibilities of making movies in the U.S.,” he said. “The problem is… it’s a different approach to filmmaking and it’s… Let’s say I was involved with those people [the financiers] and I don’t want to be.”

“And making movies is being involved with people I like and who live in a similar world and here I was involved with people who live in a completely different world who have completely different values and function differently,” he continued. “Where I thought there was some kind of common ground, I realized there was zero common ground.”

“Idol’s Eye” was a hugely anticipated project, one that probably would have bowed at Cannes or one of the other major film festivals, and what most fans want to know is, will he ever make this film?

“Mmmm… I would do it if my producer managed if I could get true control of it,” Assayas said, but he didn’t exactly sound hopeful. “If I don’t have full control I would never trust the people who were involved with it. But I will never take those kinds of risks. I would only be involved in that film if I was guaranteed complete security that his is happening on normal, decent filmmaking terms and not in the middle of the madness we went through.”

Asked about what the film would have been like, Assayas stressed what an ordeal the experience was.

“The whole thing is a shame because I think I had the perfect cast and the project was really exciting,” he explained. “It was incredibly frustrating because we were ready and the financier pulled out 24 hours before shooting which is unheard of. It’s something that never happens. And 24 hours before shooting you have all the elements there, all your cast, all your sets you have the whole film in your mind. To me, you know I can watch the entire film in my mind. I know exactly what it would have been and that’s very frustrating.”

Those holding out hope for an Assayas-directed “Idol’s Eye” should note at the end of Benaroya’s original statement the company stressed they retained the rights to the film and were planning on moving “forward with production on the picture after we generate a revised script and assemble a new filmmaking team.” It’s a disappointment, but whatever the filmmaker gets up to next, we’ll be watching.

Source

So this is interesting.  Dee Dee Sorvino posted her photo with Rob and obviously her husband Paul on her Facebook page

 

and then I went to her Red Girls Salon blog and she mentioned this about Idol’s Eye:

… I pointed out Robert Pattinson who is a huge star and was supposed to be in a film with Paul and Robert de Niro in Canada.  It didn’t happen because of production problems. ….”

Still crying over Idol’s Eye – I’ll never let it go.

Thanks Lisa for the FB tip.

 

Okay let’s not get our hopes up, but this Assayas’ article in GP about Clouds of Sils Maria appeared in my inbox today.  It’s in Swedish, but this time I was quick to use Google Translate and well ….

“Next, you direct Robert Pattinson’s and Robert de Niro in Idol’s Eye?

Yes, if all goes as planned, we begin filming in March in the US. It is a dark mafia thriller with reality background, set in Chicago in the 1970s. But the film is punctuated by some financial trouble, so keep your fingers crossed.”

This article is published 6 February 2015 to coincide with the Swedish release of Clouds.  I checked IMDbPro and it is in fact being released 6 February 2015.  It doesn’t say it’s an old interview, but maybe it is.  I can’t recall Assayas ever saying it was filming in March, but I’m happy to be proven wrong.

I did notice yesterday in International Film Trust’s press release about “Cell” it did state:

“IFT’s slate includes … IDOL’S EYE starring Robert De Niroand Robert Pattinson”

but I thought it might have been bad proofreading or old information.

ZOMG.  Please be true.  I hope that financing gets sorted.  Maybe Assayas should consider crowdfunding from Rob’s fans … anyway it gives us a little hope – yes?

I originally said this article was in German.  Thanks to the keen eye of @Anlimara she alerted me to my faux pas.  She also shared this in our comments:

“Great to hear there is hope. In winter I read my copy of Les Inrockuptibles with the long Assayas article, and according to that, it was not necesserarily everything lost about Idol’s Eye, saying that the American producer is still looking for a solution, but keeps Assayas hanging with empty promises for new filming start dates in February, March and so on. The article was written in early December.”

And Anlimara your English is pretty damn good.

In fact, it’s no longer on IMDBPro at all. If it is it’s under a new “in development” name.  I guess we can kiss Rob and Bob goodbye for reals *cries*

CRIES.   According to Gossip Cop:

“Idol’s Eye, starring Robert Pattinson and Robert De Niro, has been canceled, Gossip Cop exclusively confirms.

Here’s an exclusive statement from producers to Gossip Cop: “Due to the criteria for financing not being met by producers, Benaroya Pictures has formally decided to discontinue financing the motion picture titled IDOL’S EYE.  The company cannot continue to put its investment at risk and has been forced to stop cash flowing the production.”

It continues, “This is something all of us wanted to avoid, but due to the producers missing a number of financing criteria deadlines that were mutually established by all parties, we were left with no other options. Benaroya Pictures plans to retain the rights of the film and move forward with production on the picture after we generate a revised script and assemble a new filmmaking team.”

On Monday, speculation that the movie’s future was in doubt spread after the actor Shane Daly tweeted, “Bad news morning… turns out that #IdolsEye, the Robert De Niro film has been cancelled. No reasons as of yet. @IdolsEyeFilm.”

A rep for Daly later confirmed to Gossip Cop that he was informed early Monday that Idol’s Eye isn’t going forward now. Idol’s Eye was set to begin filming in Toronto, where Pattinson arrived a couple of weeks ago. Daly is listed on IMDb as playing “Officer Jones” in Idol’s Eye. The movie, directed by Olivier Assayas, was set to star Pattinson, De Niro, Rachel Weisz, with a plot inspired by the true story of a crew of thieves who try to rob a pawn shop, only to learn it’s a front for a brutal crime boss.”

The only words I have is that this happened to The English Patient the day before filming was to commence and a few weeks later they were back to filming.  And we saw how that turned out.