Scott Eastwood Joins Thriller 'Manuscript,' Nick Cassavetes to Direct

He joins Morgan Freeman in the cat-and-mouse style thriller being offered to buyers in Berlin by Highland Film Group.


Scott Eastwood (The Fate of the Furious, The Longest Ride) has joined Morgan Freeman in The Manuscript.


Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook, The Other Woman) has also been lined up to direct the cat-and-mouse style thriller, replacing John Moore who was announced last year and working from a script by Louis Rosenberg and Joe Rosenbaum.


Also joining the production is Rob Paris via his eponymous Paris Film Inc. banner, which will produce alongside Mike Witherill (John Wick) and Mark Williams (The Accountant). Highland Film Group is handling international sales and will continue speaking to buyers at Berlin's European Film Market (EFM).


The Manuscript centers on an imprisoned genius (Freeman) who writes and sends chapters from a mysterious novel to an aspiring young writer (Eastwood), ensnaring him in a high-stakes ploy to recover $100 million in stolen diamonds. Principal photography will begin in late April in New Orleans.


Eastwood, who will next star in Universal Pictures’ Pacific Rim Uprising alongside Star Wars’ John Boyega, is repped by UTA and LBI Entertainment, while Cassavetes is repped by WME and LBI Entertainment.


The Highland Film Group's current slate also includes: Michael Cristofer’s The Night Clerk starring Tye Sheridan; the star-studded Berlin, I Love You with Helen Mirren, Keira Knightley, Jim Sturgess, Mickey Rourke, Diego Luna, and Jenna Dewan Tatum; Vaughn Stein’s Terminal starring Margot Robbie; Jon Avnet’s Three Christs starring Richard Gere; Eric Bress’ supernatural psychological thriller Ghosts of War starring Brenton Thwaites; Lin Oeding’s thriller Braven starring Jason Momoa; Scott Mann’s Final Score starring Dave Bautista and Pierce Brosnan; and the highly-anticipated remake of The Crow directed by Corin Hardy, which HFG is producing and financing.


Paris Film Inc. is currently in post-production on The Last Laugh starring Chevy Chase and Richard Dreyfuss for Netflix. Recent credits include The Blackcoat’s Daughter for A24 and I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House for Netflix.