Warren Beatty, who has not appeared on film since 2001’s Town & Country, has announced the release date for Rules Don’t Apply, his film that is kind of about Howard Hughes, but also kind of not. Mostly, it seems to use Hughes, who’ll be played by Beatty, as the backdrop for a budding young romance between actress Marla Mabrey (Lily Collins) and her driver, Frank Forbes (Alden Ehrenreich). It’s got a tentative release date of November 11, and doesn’t have anything in common with Scorsese’s 2004 Hughes biopic, The Aviator.
The production history of Rules Don’t Apply is, right now, more interesting than that plot, because Beatty has apparently been working on this film for the past 40 years, ever since he became fascinated with Hughes, although he says the two never met. Entertainment Weekly broke the news that the film’s finally set to be released, along with some standard first-look pics from the set. They’re period appropriate, if not the most exciting things in the world.
Lily Collins and Alden Ehrenreich
Along with these basic bits of information comes the supporting cast, which is appropriately presitigious, and gives credence to Beatty’s claim that this is going to be a bit of a comedy: it’ll star Alec Baldwin, Matthew Broderick, Candice Bergen, Steve Coogan, and Annette Bening. As for why this thing suddenly seems to have been put into high-gear, who knows? It could very well have to do with the fact that Ehrenreich, who starred in the Coen Brothers’ Hail, Caesar! was recently named as the new Han Solo. Beatty’s last directorial effort was 1998’s Bulworth, so it’s doubtful he’s suddenly decided to be in a rush.