With the terrific run of his beautiful and moving “45 Years” culminating in an Oscar nomination for Charlotte Rampling, director Andrew Haigh isn’t spending 2016 taking a break. Later this month he wraps up his HBO series “Looking” with a final movie, and he’ll be starting production this summer on his next feature, “Lean On Pete,” and the first cast member has signed on.
Steve Buscemi has joined the movie, an adaptation of the novel by Willy Vlautin that follows a homeless fifteen-year-old who befriends an aging racehorse, and sets out to find his only known relative. Buscemi will be playing Del, the owner of the horse that the lead character becomes attached to, but no word yet on who will be playing the adolescent. It’ll be interesting to see if Haigh goes for a more established name, or someone lesser known.
But none of that really matters, since Haigh seems to get tremendous performances out of whoever he manages to land in front of cameras. And with three movies coming in three years, let’s hope he keeps staying busy. [Deadline]