When Steve McQueen died he left behind a family and a legacy; he also left behind an unfinished movie project locked away in a trunk. Undiscovered for some time after the iconic star’s death, Yucatan exists only as 1700 pages of notes (!) that McQueen put together for a heist movie in which he would star. McQueen’s son Chad has been trying to get Yucatan off the ground for some time – in 2007 it looked like McG might direct it – but now he’s partnered up with Downey Jr and his wife Susan, who have formed Team Downey productions.
Team Downey is ostensibly set up to get RDJ into the director’s chair, but they’re also putting together starring projects for the actor. It’s unclear who will take a crack at turning those thousand plus pages into a script, or whether this will be the movie that Downey directs; it’s definitely being developed with an eye towards him starring.
The story takes place in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, where a group of thieves try to get their hands on ancient buried treasure. I don’t know much else beyond that, although I’m sure McQueen completeists know the whole tale. I imagine that whatever comes of it will be quite different than any movie Steve McQueen could have imagined.
Yucatan is far off in Downey’s future. He’ll be starting Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity, take a break from that and do Sherlock Holmes 2, come back and finish the Cuaron movie and then… who knows. Could be Yucatan, could be something else.
via Deadline
13 comments
Sounds good. I love heists AND Mexico.
They should give the McQueen role to Thomas Jane
please, please, please stop calling him RDJ!
He should re-team with Fincher and make it a period piece set when it was written.
The Downey syndrome strikes again
Isn't The Avengers principal photography supposed to start in early 2011? Maybe Yucatan before Iron Man 3?
As a fan of Steve McQueen, I honestly don't know who should play his role. Downey Jr. is a good actor so his involvement is interesting to me.
Not sure why my comment from earlier wasn't posted. Maybe it's because the handle I use seemed insensitive. I can tell you one thing, there was nothing in bad taste about it.
WHY is Downey taking a break during the filming of "Gravity"? Is he going to pull a "drastic" physical change a la' Tom Hanks in "Cast Away" and he needs the break in order to do so?
#8 — "He'll be starting Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity, take a break from that and do Sherlock Holmes 2, come back and finish the Cuaron movie …" It sounds more like Downey's contractual obligations to SH2 take precedence over Gravity. But who knows. And yes, #5, it seems the dreaded Robert Downey Jr. Syndrome (or RDJS) has struck again; maybe Jerry Lewis could do a telethon or something.
Isn't Downey Jr also doing The Avengers sometime in the near-ish future?
Someone please start selling Team Downey > Team Edward shirts on Cafe Press asap, thanks. Honestly, I think Bardem is the only one who has a shot at filling Steve's shoes in this film.
Robert Pattinson should star. He is the greatest actor of his generation.
actually, LD (comment 11) team Downey is the name of his and his wife's production company
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