Tim Robbins is returning to the director’s chair for the first time since 1999 to helm the thriller City Of Lies. Based on a short story by Arthur Phillips first read on This American Life in 2007, it deals with two Cold War spies on separate missions in Prague who fall in love.
Robbins will be working from a script by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who originally landed on the 2009 Black List with it back when the project was originally titled Wenceslas Square. Previously Philip Noyce was attached to direct the picture.
It has been almost a decade-and-a-half since Robbins last directed a feature film – 1999’s Cradle Will Rock. Of his two other feature directorial efforts, drama Dead Man Walking is considered a classic and the political satire Bob Roberts is an under-appreciated gem.
Robbins has kept exercising his directorial muscles through the 2000s with the TV movie Possible Side Effects and two episodes of the HBO series Treme.
There’s no announced release date for the film, but in the meantime, you can hear Phillips read his short story on This American Life here.
Via Hollywood Reporter.
