Mike Fleming

Matt Dillon, Brendan Fraser, William H. Macy and Craig Robinson are in talks to star in Freaky Deaky, the Charlie Matthau-directed adaptation of the Elmore Leonard novel. Shooting starts June 27 in Detroit. The novel has caught the eye of numerous filmmakers over the years including Quentin Tarantino, but the premise — about 60s radicals who try to use their bomb-making skills to become capitalists in the 70s — was a bit of a problem because the book was set in the late 80s. Matthau wrote the script, and had a breakthrough when Leonard suggested setting it right at the time the bombers decided to turn their skills to make money, which meant putting the drama in 1974. Dillon plays Chris Mankowski, a Vietnam vet who is on the Detroit police bomb squad; Fraser plays Skip, the former 60s radical who becomes a Hollywood demolition guy; Macy (who signed on late last year) plays an alcoholic playboy millionaire who’s threatened by Skip and his girlfriend that he’ll have his mansion blown up if he doesn’t pay $3 mlllion; and Robinson plays a former Black Panther also looking to cash in.

The film is being financed by Eyde Studios. Matthau is producing and Leonard is exec producing with Donald Zuckerman, Michael Meltzer, Robert Cantrell, Steven M. Berez, Tom Ortenberg, along with George, Lou and Nathaniel Eyde and Lee Greenberg. Talks are underway with domestic distributors, and Nicolas Chartier’s Voltage has been selling foreign territories.