Yes this is me jumping up and down

@QOTDfilm We are working really hard on queen of the desert. We are close now. This is going to be an amazing movie if we pull it off

— cassian elwes (@cassianelwes) August 28, 2013

This sounds promising.  According to the latest Werner Herzog interview in IndieWire

He’s making more movies about women… finally. Herzog is currently in pre-production on the adventure film “Queen of the Desert,” which is likely to star Naomi Watts and Robert Pattinson. “There are some actors I’d very much likely to be in the film and it’s problematic to get them in the same place at the same time,” he said with regard to the delays, pointing out that he needs to shoot the film in the summer. “One thing that’s maybe significant is that I do have two films [in pre-production] where the protagonists will be women. That hasn’t happened to me much before. People have always been asking me, ‘Why is it always men?’ It’s not true. I’ve made at least four or five films where women have been the protagonists. But this is new terrain for me.” [My emphasis on QoTD filming not the women part although that’s good too]

Click on the link if you want to read the whole interview.

The Washington Post printed an interview with Werner Herzog where he mentioned Queen of the Desert:

“For his next project, the director of “Into the Abyss” is returning to death row for a follow-up to his “On Death Row” series, and he’s still hoping to make a film about the life of Middle East pioneer Gertrude Bell starring Naomi Watts and Robert Pattinson titled “Queen of the Desert.” He said coordinating all the actors’ schedules has made it difficult.”

“Difficult” but not impossible.  I note with some relief that it doesn’t mention Franco, but I better not get too excited.

Via

So it looks like Focus.de posted this interview back on 26 January 2013, which is why it’s stating that QoTD is not yet fully funded and possibly filming in Syria.  We know that’s not the case now since we posted our last update here

“PLAYBOY: For your next film “Queen of the Desert” you have “Twilight” teen heartthrob Robert Pattinson cast.

Herzog: He came to me. Therefore, I am taken seriously in Hollywood. Because so many good actors want to work with me. Nicolas Cage was never better than in “Bad Lieutenant”.

Playboy: What do you see in Robert Pattinson?

Herzog:  He has charisma, he is wise, he writes. I hope we will see him again as a director. “Queen of the Desert” is not yet fully funded, and we do not know yet where we will turn. Actually, that should play in Syria.

PLAYBOY: That’s your specialty – difficult locations.

Duke: Not difficult, credible.”

 Translation thanks to Google.  I have to say that for some reason Google turned “What do you see in Robert Pattinson” to “What do you see in Harry Potter” – hahaha I kid you not.  I pasted it in twice and both times it did it.  Funny Google real funny.

Thanks Jules for telling me about this.

via @Lurker1510

*fistpumps* for real.  There is so much Rob news out there it feels like I’ve stepped back in time to 2008/2009.  Cassian Elwes just tweeted:

 

And whilst I’m here just an update re Dior from @whybee1

I was hoping that Cassian Elwes was talking more along the lines of Clive Owen when he tweeted they were going to unleash casting news re Jude’s replacement.  But say it ain’t so because it’s difficult enough that I will have to sit through a Naomi film (for our regulars she’s Nicole Kidman v2 in my eyes), but having Franco in a film instead of Jude.  Just no.  That might be more than I can take.  I’m not being bitchy it’s just there are some actors that make me never want to watch a film and Franco is one of them.  According to The Playlist:

Greenlight power is everything, and it often requires a top-shelf or name-brand cast to light the fuse. Werner Herzog seemingly nailed it with the power trio of Robert Pattinson, Naomi Watts and Jude Law for his would-be next narrative feature, “Queen of the Desert” — the true story of Gertrude Bell (Watts), the traveler, writer, archaeologist, explorer, cartographer, and political attaché for the British Empire at the dawn of the twentieth century.

So this should be more than enough, no? But with what one assumes could be expensive location shoots in far off locations outside the U.S., “Queen of the Desert” hasn’t really moved forward. In fact, it seemed very up in the air in the last few months. Watts herself suggested the movie was on hold and Jude Law told us in a recent interview that he was likely unable to participate likely because his scheduling window had closed.

And that’s exactly the case for Law. Deadline reports, while far from a done deal, James Franco is currently under consideration and in talks to replace the “Sherlock Holmes” sidekick. There’s still no word on who he would play, but the trade says if they can manage Franco’s schedule and get him on board, it will likely get the picture back on track. Ridley Scott could have derailed the whole thing if he got to his Gertrude Bell project with Angelina Jolie first, but he seems preoccupied with his biblical Moses epic that will star Christian Bale.