Last Flag Flying: Richard Linklater’s next film to star Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell and Laurence Fishburne

It's a change of pace for the director

Wednesday 31 August 2016 08:35 BST

(Getty)

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Before trilogy, Boyhood and Everybody Wants Some! director Richard Linklater appears to have his next movie set, and big actors he’s not worked with before are lining up for it.

Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston and Laurence Fishburne are in talks for the movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter - a ‘sort of’ sequel to 1973 Jack Nicholson comedy classic The Last Detail, which was nominated for three Oscars and won Nicholson a BAFTA.

The original film centred on two navy men tasked with bringing a young criminal to prison but who decide to show him a good time along the way.

It was based on the book of the same name by Daryl Ponicsan, and the author’s follow-up, Last Flag, reunites the trio and finds the officers helping the former prisoner bring home the body of his son who died in Iraq.

I know what you’re thinking, ‘this doesn’t sound like Linklater territory, where are the hazing paddles?’, but it’s a comedic story of three men united for a terrible purpose. It’s also about ageing and has a road trip aspect to it. Add in the whole dead body thing and it starts to sound like Little Miss Sunshine and more the sort of film you could imagine him making.