Out to Launch

“This isn’t an anti- glasnost movie. It’s not saying that we shouldn’t trust the Russians. It’s saying that we have to watch for the enemy, everywhere.”

That’s how an insider describes “The Day Before Midnight”--about the takeover of a U.S. nuclear missile silo--which Kevin Reynolds (“The Beast”) will direct for Universal Pictures. Ray Gideon and Bruce Evans wrote the script from the novel by Stephen Hunter. The film’s producers include Sean Daniel, former Universal production president. Shooting is expected to begin in August.

The plot involves a U.S. military officer who discovers a plot by a Soviet general to launch a U.S. missile in order to goad his countrymen into retaliation--and a return to hard-line Communism.

Talks are reportedly underway with Morgan Freeman to play the U.S. officer.