Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Mikael Hafstrom is in talks to direct Sylvester Stallone in The Tomb, a drama backed by Emmett/Furla Films and Summit Entertainment. Hafstrom has been circling the project for some time, but things were stalled while Stallone was in Bulgaria. He’s finishing up the film in New Orleans, and things seem to be moving. Harry Knowles is reporting the possibility of a re-team between Stallone and his Expendables 2 co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Tomb. I’ve heard the same chatter, and checked over the past several days. I’ve been told Schwarzenegger’s been approached, but insiders in the production say that it hasn’t progressed beyond that at this point. It’s one of those in-the-air pairings that seems to make too much sense not to happen. Schwarzenegger is certainly familiar with the script, as he once considered playing the lead role that is now Stallone (Bruce Willis was once attached to make it with Antoine Fuqua). In the drama that was scripted by Miles Chapman, got a rewrite from Jason Keller and now has Chapman working on the latest draft with Hafstrom, Stallone plays a man who has designed a high-tech prison that is said to be escape-proof. When he is set up and sent to the prison he created, he essentially must go up against himself to escape and find retribution. Hafstrom’s credits include last year’s The Rite and 2007′s 1408 and he’s repped by WME.

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