While we may weep for what could have been of John Hillcoat‘s original incarnation of “The Wettest County” that fell apart last year and featured Michael Shannon, Ryan Gosling, Paul Dano, Amy Adams and Scarlett Johansson, the cast that has come together for the revamped film is equally first rate.
THR reports that Gary Oldman, Guy Peace and Mia Wasikowska have joined the film, rounding a cast that has already Shia LaBeouf. Tom Hardy, Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke and Dane DeHaan. Talk about a powerhouse of talent. The adaptation of Matt Bondurant‘s novel, “The Wettest County” follows the story of a trio of brothers (LaBeouf, Hardy, Clarke) who run a bootlegging gang during Prohibition but find their moonshine dynasty in Franklin County, Virginia threatened by the authorities wanting a cut. Chastain plays Hardy’s love interest Maggie, while Wasikowska will hang off the arm of LaBeouf. Pearce is lined up in the role of a violent deputy with the brothers in his sights while Oldman will play the gangster who employs the boys.
Nick Cave wrote the screenplay and will also be scoring the film (he took on both those duties on Hillcoat’s “The Proposition“), and pre-production is underway and will start filming on February 28th.
Basically, this is shaping up to be a big pile of awesome. What else can we say? The cast is astonishingly strong as if we weren’t already tremendously excited for the film, this puts it over the top.