Eric Bana May Fight For England As Super-Spy Nick Stone

Next week Sony will be hoping to launch the next Bourne franchise with Angelina Jolie in Salt, but of course, there’s plenty of room in the spy-on-the-run pool, and Hyde Park Entertainment is trying to jump in as well. According to Pajiba and their omnipresent source The Hollywood Cog, Hyde Park is setting Eric Bana to star in their adaptation of Firewall, the first in Andy McNab’s 12-book spy series starring ex-SAS agent Nick Stone.

SAS stands for Special Air Service and is the prime special forces arm of the British military, most famous for rescuing the hostages during the 1980 Iranian Embassy hostage crisis. In the Firewall adaptation, which will be retitled Echelon probably thanks to that crappy Harrison Ford thriller, Bana will attempt to keep a large terrorist organization away from “the world’s largest computer intelligence database.” You know, like you do. Continue…

Eric To Play Teen Assassin’s Dad

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Eric Bana is going back to action movie territory.

The Australian actor is in negotiations to star opposite Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones) in Hanna, Focus Features’ tale of a teenage assassin being directed by Joe Wright (Atonement).

Bana will play Ronan’s father in the story of a 14-year-old Eastern European girl saved from a CIA breeding camp and raised by her dad to be a cold-blooded killing machine. After finding peace with a French family, the girl is dragged back to her father’s world, and she must fight her way to a free life.

Bana last appeared in Judd Apatow’s comedy-drama Funny People and the romance The Time Traveler’s Wife. However, the Aussie made his American movie mark in such films as The Hulk and sword-and-sandal epic Troy and gained his action spy movie cred with Black Hawk Down and Munich.

Men’s Health Magazine Article

Hey Everyone!

I don’t have the magazine yet, but I found this article on the Men’s Health website. Figured I would share it with you all.

Bana in Blue
Eric Bana, Australian funnyman (really!) and Hollywood star, has a fondness for iconic America, including the classic navy suit

Eric Bana loves cars and loves America…

…and he was in love with the idea of a cross-country adventure when he arrived here 20 years ago, a naive Australian. His plan: Drive across the land like Kerouac, in a ’79 Mustang, and try his luck at stand-up comedy.

Six months and thousands of miles later, the dream was pretty well battered. He’d endured lonely nights sleeping in the car, wrong turns through crack neighborhoods, and a middle-of-the-night escape from Nashville.

Still, one gritty city charmed him. Continue…

Annual G’day USA to honour Baz Luhrmann, Eric Bana, Rachel Griffiths and Rod Laver

AUSTRALIAN A-listers Baz Luhrmann, Eric Bana, Rachel Griffiths and tennis legend Rod Laver will be honoured at next month’s annual G’day USA: Australia Week festival.

The celebration, aimed at promoting Australian culture, food, fashion, film, trade and tourism, is entering its sixth year and will expand to San Francisco.

G’Day USA events will again be staged in Los Angeles and New York, but the success of past years encouraged organisers to add San Francisco.

“For 2009, we are delighted to include San Francisco into the program, a city with important cultural, business and tourism ties to Australia,” John Olsen, Australian Consul General in New York and Australia Week Steering Committee chairman, said. Continue…

Eric Bana to be ambassador for Melbourne International Film Festival

HULKING hero Eric Bana has thrown his weight behind the Melbourne International Film Festival, taking on the role of ambassador, which kicks off next month.

He leads a list of celebrities being signed to glam up the festival, which has Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush as its patron.

Tipped to join the fold is Australian director Fred Schepisi.

Bana, star of Chopper, The Incredible Hulk and The Other Boleyn Girl, said before last night’s festival launch the role was an honor. Continue…