EXCLUSIVE
Shia LaBeouf and director John Hillcoat are circling Matt Cooke's spec script "Triple Nine," a crime drama that Steve Golin is attached to produce, individuals familiar with the project have told TheWrap.
Neither LaBeouf nor Hillcoat are officially in talks to sign on to the project, but they are definitely interested in Cooke's script, which is built around a fairly intriguing premise.
The story concerns a group of crooked cops planning a major heist who realize they must shoot one of their own in order to get away with it. The lead character is an upstanding young officer who they choose as their victim.
999 is the police code indicating that an officer needs immediate assistance.
WME is packaging "Triple Nine," and a separate individual has told TheWrap that Warner Bros. is in talks to pick up the project.
LaBeouf has been linked to several projects in development, including "The Promised Land," "The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman" and two Tony Scott projects — "Hell's Angels" and an adaptation of John Grisham's "The Associate." He's currently filming Michael Bay's "Transformers 3" and next stars in Oliver Stone's "Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps."
Hillcoat, who previously directed "The Proposition" and "The Road," has also been linked to "The Promised Land," as well as the western "The Revenant," a remake of "The Red Circle" and several other projects.
Cooke recently produced and edited the Sundance documentary "Teenage Paparazzo," and he previously performed the same duties on Lionsgate's Oscar-nominated documentary "Deliver Us From Evil." He also wrote and directed the upcoming documentaries "How to Make Money Selling Drugs" and "Propaganda" for Bert Marcus Productions.
Cooke is represented by WME and Anonymous Content.
