John Hillcoat’s adaptation of Matt Bondurant’s novel The Wettest County in the World is finally coming together as the last members of the cast are all put into place. The Hollywood Reporter tells us these people are Gary Oldman, Guy Pearce and Mia Wasikowska, who have joined an already starry cast headed by Shia LaBeouf along with Tom Hardy, Jessica Chastain (who we’ll soon see in The Tree of Life), Jason Clarke and Dane DeHaan.
The film is about:
Four brothers, the real life Bondurants, who run a bootlegging gang during Prohibition but find their moonshine dynasty in Franklin County, Virginia threatened by the authorities wanting a cut
Guy Pearce will play an overly violent deputy who is hunting down the brothers, Oldman will play a gangster who engages the boys to deliver alcohol and Wasikowska will play a love interest to Shia LaBeouf.
The screenplay is written by frequent Hillcoat collaborator Nick Cave, who will also compose the score for the film with musical companion Warren Ellis. Hillcoat tried to mount a production of this after he finished The Road but the financing fell apart, now he has now pieced it back together and shooting is expected to begin in late February.
