Woody Harrelson to star in Sailing

Woody Harrelson is in talks to star in musical comedy ‘Sailing’.

The 60-year-old actor is set to take on a leading role in Lionsgate’s upcoming yacht rock musical, which will follow a group of 1970s musicians discovering the soft rock music genre, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Chris D’Arienzo, creator of the Broadway musical ‘Rock of Ages’ has created the story, while Jeremy Plager, will develop and produce with MegaMix (Jonathan Levine and Gillian Bohrer) and Harrelson.

Lionsgate president of production Erin Westerman said: “We’re thrilled to be working with Jeremy, Jonathan, Gillian, Chris, and Woody, and we’re confident that it will not only have a phenomenal soundtrack, but it will also put you in a summertime mood.”

Meanwhile, it was recently revealed that Woody is to star in ‘The Entertainment System is Down’, which will see him reunite with director Ruben Ostlund following the pair’s collaboration on the movie ‘Triangle of Sadness’.

Speaking at a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival, following the premiere of ‘Triangle of Sadness’, Woody said: “Ruben is a maestro so my interest was to work with Ruben. I’m going to be in his next film whether he wants it or not.”

Ostlund has been developing the film for the past couple of years by collecting anecdotes from people across the world – but the actual script is still in an early stage.

‘The Entertainment System is Down’ will be a comedy with a sociological edge. The project is set onboard a long-haul flight and is inspired by Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel ‘Brave New World’.

Ostlund also suggested what part Woody will be playing in the upcoming film.

The director said: “(Woody) is going to play a captain on an airplane.”

Ostlund has explained that the movie would be like an experimental lab looking at how people react to different “air rages” among passengers which he said are “more frequent when economy passengers board through business class”.

He told Variety: “In a world controlled by advanced entertainment systems, you have people stuck on a long flight with no screens to look at. I’m curious to see if people will start talking to each other or what will happen.”