I think John Hillcoat’s The Wettest County in the World is going to be the next True Grit. I hate making comparisons like that, but on paper … damn. Good source material, a fantastic cast, a great director and a brilliant screenwriter. It’s difficult to see how it could go wrong.
Incidentally, the fantastic cast just signed on three more fine people. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Guy Pearce, Gary Oldman, Mia Wasikowska and Jason Clarke have signed on.
Pearce (a Hillcoat regular) will be playing “an overly violent deputy” who comes down hard on the Bondurant Brothers (played by Tom Hardy and Shia LaBeouf). Delicious. There’s just not enough Pearce on the big screen, and I can only hope this is an actual part, not just a “Hey, is that Guy Pearce? ” moment. (I still resent The Hurt Locker for this.)
Oldman will be playing a gangster who engages the boys to deliver alcohol, and if Boardwalk Empire has taught me anything, it’s that he will also be kicking the shit out of them at some point.
Wasikowska is Shia’s love interest, and Clarke is playing a third Boundurant brother. He’s used to running the gangster gauntlet thanks to the dead-before-its-time show Brotherhood, so that should be another fun turn for him.