Violence plays a role in both In the Bedroom and Little Children, but Todd Field’s first two films won’t hold a candle to the bloodshed he might unleash in his next two. Field has already been attached to a film version of Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian; now he’s writing the screenplay for Creed of Violence, based on an unpublished novel that’s already drawn comparisons to McCarthy.
Boston Teran*’s Creed of Violence is a late-period Western, set in 1910. Variety says it’s about ‘two men — a desperado and a government agent with a secret connection to him — try to thwart an arms smuggling ring.’ (I wouldn’t know, as the book isn’t published until this fall. Blood Meridian, meanwhile, is set in 1850 and tells the story of a scalp-hunting group of outlaws. That book is very, very violent; I imagine Creed of Violence isn’t a bedtime story.
Variety notes that while Field has only signed on to write Creed of Violence, he hasn’t written anything he hasn’t directed in a long, long time. I’m just waiting for him to nail down his next film and get to work. It’s been too long since Little Children.
* This dude is super mysterious, by the way.