Robert Redford will follow up Civil-war legal drama “The Conspirator” with his gestating adaptation of Neil Gordon’s “The Company You Keep,” which will be backed by “The Hurt Locker” producers Nicholas Chartier and Greg Shapiro.
Adapted for the screen by regular Steven Soderbergh collaborator Lem Dobbs (“Kafka,” “The Limey” and the upcoming “Knockout”), the film — which will begin shooting this summer — centers on a small-town lawyer and father who finds himself involved in a murder investigation linked to members of a radical group in the late ’70s, and must embark on a cross-country manhunt to clear his name.
The Publisher’s Weekly synopsis interestingly describes the story as a “mix of countercultural drama and familial schmaltz” that “skillfully combines a tense fugitive procedural, full of intriguing lore about false identities and techniques for losing a tail, with a nuanced exploration of boomer nostalgia and regret.”
The project will mark the quickest turnaround in Redford’s career as a director and, despite the shortcomings of his recent works, could make for something interesting considering the collaboration between him and Dobbs. Redford is presumably still finishing up post-production on “The Conspirator,” his eighth directorial effort in 30 years.
Chartier and Shapiro will be producing through their Voltage Pictures shingle with the success of Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal’s war drama “The Hurt Locker” enabling them to “take a greater position in riskier movies.” Chartier is also, of course, the culprit behind the pre-Oscar drama surrounding an email that circulated Hollywood calling for votes for the Bigelow film ahead of James Cameron’s “Avatar.”
