Richard Linklater's new film will see Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell coming together

Director Richard Linklater has a kitty full of critically acclaimed films to his name. He is credited with bringing to light the famed romantic trilogy Before Sunset, Before Sunrise and Before Midnight and the critically acclaimed film Boyhood, which took more than a decade to film. Linklater recently announced his new venture ‘Last Flag Flying’ and also gave us a glimpse at the star cast. [caption id=“attachment_2984562” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  (L-R) Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell and Laurence Fishburne. Image courtesy: Creative Commons[/caption] The Hollywood Reporter reported that Linklater is assembling a star cast with the likes of Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell and Laurence Fishburne to join his new directorial venture which is going to be a spiritual successor to 1973’s The Last Detail directed by Hal Ashby. The 1973 film had Jack Nicholson, Randy Quaid and Otis Young playing the lead roles. The film, which was the adaptation of Darryl Ponsican’s novel of the same name, was a dramatic comedy about two Navy men escorting a third for prison for petty crime, all the while showing him how to have a good time. The Last Detail was nominated for three Oscars, and Nicholson won a BAFTA for his work. Linklater had showed interest in directing the sequel ever since Ponsican published Last Flag Flying in 2005. The sequel reunites the trio living it up in post-9/11 America. The three reunite to help their former prisoner to bring home the body of his son who was killed in the line of fire in the Iraq war. The synopsis of the book on Amazon.in states that:

“Darryl Ponicsan never imagined that his first novel, “The Last Detail”, called by one critic “…the first underground triumph of the 70s…” would be a continuing story.“The Last Detail”, called by one critic “…the first underground triumph of the 70s…” would be a continuing story. With the invasion of Iraq, however, the same elements that inspired the original - injustice, a senseless war, men of honor and duty caught in untenable positions - compelled him to revisit Billy Bad-Ass, Mule, and the hapless Meadows, and to see how his characters were faring in post-9/11 American life. The result is “Last Flag Flying”, a story as tough and tender. sad and funny. as “The Last Detail”. The boy Billy and Mule escorted to prison has come back into their lives, now a grieving man of 52, with a gut-wrenching request they cannot deny. What follows is a retracing of their steps from 34 years before, a journey from Norfolk, Virginia, to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on a mission as heart-breaking - and as exhilarating - as the first.”