Despite a tough subject and a surely bleak tone and atmosphere, John Hillcoat’s dilapidated prohibition-era brothers drama, “The Wettest County In The World,” looks like its moving forward.
Hillcoat recently said the picture is shooting in February and said Shia LaBeouf and Ryan Gosling were attached, presumably as two of the three wild protagonists: the Bondurant brothers who ran a small moonshine dynasty in depression-era Virginia.
More evidence this is happening soon comes via Collider‘s vast collection of AFM posts trying to entice buyers and lenders to fork over cash to fund various projects. The last batch they received reveals that Amy Adams is attached to the cast meaning she’s probably replaced fellow red-head Scarlett Johansson who was once eyeing a role (there is one major red-head character in the script, but she feels more buxomy like a Christina Hendricks, alas). No major loss, Adams is a far superior actress than Johansson. Since we’ve seen none of these reports in the trades yet, we assume all these actors are “attached” (signed commitments to appear in the film), but none are officially, 100% on board. We could be wrong and we hope so.
The next change is major. According to the poster, the film is now called, “The Promised Land,” and we’re not sure what that’s about, but whatever, in the end it also works. We’re just happy to hear that the film appears to be on track (though it’s Millennium Films who did the super low-budget Herzog-directed “Bad Lieutenant” which is slightly worrisome).
In this conservative film climate, we’re just happy that a picture like this is being made at all. Sounds like a small budget and name-brand cast willing to take a paycut are exactly what the doctor ordered. Other actors once mentioned as circling this project include Paul Dano and Michael Shannon. No word if they’re still apart of the project, the screenplay of which is penned by Nick Cave (who wrote Hillcoat’s “The Proposition,” but here’s to hoping they are.