Hollywood Popular Artists

Feb 27th 2013, 20:00

Speaking with MTV News' Josh Horowitz and VH1's Janell Snowden on the red carpet at the Oscars, "Zero Dark Thirty" star Jason Clarke played coy about his latest role, the lead in Matt Reeves' "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," only giving the vaguest detail about his character. "I play a guy who's trying to save humanity," he said, ruling out a motion-capture ape performance. (Or did he?!?!)

But it was the news about Clarke's project after "Apes" that piqued our interest. "Then I'm doing a film with Gaghan after that, Stephen Gaghan. It's called 'Candy Store,'" Clarke said. "I can't tell you what it's about."

"Candy Store," whether Clarke knows it or not, has been on our radar for quite some time. We first heard about the project, which Gaghan wrote and will direct, when The Hollywood Reporter claimed that Brad Pitt and Denzel Washington were in early talks to join the crime drama, which tells the story of a deep-cover operative that tries to get a fresh start as a beat cop in Brooklyn. Separately, The Wrap claimed that Christoph Waltz had an offer to play a character named Black Zenga.

That was all we heard about what sounded like an interesting project, until Clarke revealed his involvement to MTV News at the Oscars.

Clarke has been steadily adding promising titles to list of future projects. In addition to starring alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan in Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby," Clarke has a big 2013 planned with roles in "White House Down" and "The Green Blade Rises," the Terrence Malick-produced film where he'll play Abraham Lincoln's father, Tom.

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