After working together on the 2004 island thriller Haven, Zoe Saldana (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Frank E. Flowers are taking to the seas in a different manner as they reunite for the pirate actioner Bluff that has just been acquired by Netflix, according to Deadline.
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The film, which will be based on a script co-penned by Flowers and Joe Ballarini, is set in the Cayman Islands during the 1800s and centers on Caribbean woman Ercell (Saldana) whose secretive past comes to light after her island is invaded by vicious buccaneers and she is forced to fight back against the atrocities they’re committing.
Sources report that several streaming platforms were in the mix for Flowers and Ballarini’s pitch, which will be written as a star vehicle for the Avatar star, and that Netflix beat out the bunch with an upfront offer of seven figures for the project. Alongside Saldana’s Ercell, the film is also looking to cast women in the strong roles of a second person part of the vigilante actions against the invaders and the nasty lead pirate themself.
Bluff is set to be produced by Avengers: Endgame filmmakers Anthony and Joe Russo, Mike Larocca and Angela Russo-Otstot for the duo’s AGBO production label and Mariel and Cisely Saldana for Cinestar.
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The project marks the latest on the dance card for Flowers, who is currently at work penning a biopic of the teenage years of LeBron James for Universal as well as working with Terence Winter to script a biopic of iconic reggae artists Bob Marley at Paramount. In addition to a reunion between Flowers and Saldana, the film also marks a return to the world of pirates for the latter after one of her earliest film roles in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
(Photo Credits: Getty Images)
